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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26159074">Underhive: The Second Cumming</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadkheirallah/pseuds/jadkheirallah'>jadkheirallah</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Underhive [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bees, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fiction, Future, Non-Human Humanoid Society</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:01:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>39,442</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26159074</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadkheirallah/pseuds/jadkheirallah</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Underhive: The Second Cumming, is the sequel to Underhive: A Soothing Sansation.</p><p>Unlike the first Underhive, I am releasing this one as I write it, though I do have nearly 40,000 words ready to be published.</p><p>I plan to publish a chunk of it every Friday and Sunday.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Underhive [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884172</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Read the first Underhive:<br/>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25899118/chapters/62938153</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You stand there before the grave, completely silent, your hand still resting on Marty's shoulder as he kneels before the grave, he remains silent.</p><p>He doesn't say a word, in fact he hasn't spoken in five minutes, Marty sighs deeply, still trying accept that what had happened is reality.</p><p>You ask "You alright?", Marty answers "Yeah, better now, just needed a minute.", he sighs again and says "Hard to believe he's gone.".</p><p>You reply "Yeah, I know, especially after knowing him so long.", Marty slowly stands up, you take your hand off his shoulder as he does.</p><p>You ask "You ready to go?", Marty answers "Yeah, spent enough time here today.", you take one last look at the grave before leaving.</p><p>You still have difficulty believing that the corpse who was once Wardo lies in this grave, but you're fully aware it's real.</p><p>You feel sad though have a difficulty expressing it, you'd began to accept the fact that he'd be gone forever once he'd been missing for two weeks.</p><p>You still think about the note you found next to him, one that read "Ouch, that hurt!", another mystery you'll never find the answer to.</p><p>You don't understand why he'd been killed in such a violent manner, twenty eight stab wounds is more than one would ever need to kill someone.</p><p>You can never find the answer so you do your best to avoid the question, that being said, your best isn't always enough.</p><p>You and Marty walk back to the car, he still slightly uses his crutch though can walk for a bit without its help.</p><p>Marty is completely silent on the way for the car, he wasn't mourning the loss, he'd done that last week, he was here for different reasons.</p><p>You open the door to the passenger seat on the back and let Marty inside, you close the door after he's inside and enter from the door to the drivers seat.</p><p>You get in and close the door, Marty sighs and says "Thanks for coming with me today.", you reply "No problem.", you stay silent for a minute.</p><p>You continue "He was my friend too, I had to come.", you begin driving, Marty says "I knew it was gonna happen eventually.".</p><p>He continues "He had a sketchy past, it was bound to catch up to him eventually.", you ask "What do you mean sketchy?".</p><p>Marty answers "That's the thing, I don't know, he never told anyone.", he continues "He said he'd also hurt someone he loved, he never elaborated on anything else.".</p><p>You say "I'm sorry I shouldn't talk about the dead like this but I have to say.", you continue "Whatever he did, it doesn't sound very legal.".</p><p>Marty says "It's kinda sad, he had no real family, no one to remember him.", he continues "We're two of the very few bees who'd remember him.".</p><p>You reply "It is sad, but maybe it's what he wanted.", Marty asks "Who would want to be forgotten after their death?".</p><p>You answer "The same person that hid their entire past without making a present or future.", you continue "There isn't much of him to remember.".</p><p>Marty sighs and says "Maybe, maybe he knew he hadn't done anything worth remembering, or hadn't told anyone.".</p><p>You reply "Might have had regrets about what he'd done.", Marty replies "Definitely had regrets.", he sighs and says "We should stop talking about it.".</p><p>Marty says "I know this isn't how you wanted to spend the day before the weekend, sorry for dragging you out here.".</p><p>You reply "It's fine, I needed something to get my mind off today.", Marty asks "Is something wrong?", you answer "No, just a bit excited I guess.".</p><p>Marty asks "Feel like telling me about it?", you answer "If you don't mind.", Marty replies "Least I could do is listen.".</p><p>You explain to Marty what you and Anna had decided a while ago, you inform him that she's taking the test today.</p><p>You finish by saying "That was all a bit over a month ago.", Marty looks surprised and even slightly impressed.</p><p>He says "Huh, guess you're moving up in the world.", he asks "Are you sure you're ready for the responsibilities?".</p><p>You answer "Yeah, we'd been planning it for a few months.", Marty sighs and says "Just be careful.", he continues "Remember, not all that glitters is gold.".</p><p>You reply "I know, it took a long while of thinking.", Marty says "Well either way, I hope you're both happy with it, it's an important part of life.".</p><p>You reply "We are, especially her.", Marty says "You've known each other less than a year and are already making all the difficult decisions.".</p><p>You reply "Yeah, I know, it seems pretty rushed when you think about it.", Marty says "Well, I can't give you advice from experience in the matter of children.".</p><p>Marty asks "How come you didn't have any accident in your entire time together?", you answer "It's kinda hard to have an accident.".</p><p>You continue "You know, seeing as there's a very small window of opportunity to reproduce each season.", Marty replies "Oh yeah, I remember, having sex ed flashbacks.".</p><p>You say "Besides, it's pretty apparent when the body is in the state where reproduction is possible.", Marty replies "Yeah, you can stop now.".</p><p>You both laugh briefly at your conversation, after a minute, you can see that you're very close to Marty's house.</p><p>Marty says "Well, I'd better not take up more of your time.", he continues "Drop me off here if you would.".</p><p>You stop the car and get out, you proceed to open the door for Marty, it takes him a minute to get out.</p><p>He says "Thanks for the ride, I'll be seeing you in a few days.", you reply "Yeah, I'll see you at work.", you both part ways.</p><p>You get back in your car and begin driving towards Anna's house, you have to prepare yourself mentally for what happens today.</p><p>Anna could've taken the test as early as two weeks ago, they're almost always accurate after the first two weeks, but she wanted to make sure it was absolutely accurate.</p><p>You're both hoping it comes out positive, and it should, you took the few necessary steps, there wasn't anything more you could do.</p><p>You feel something strange when you imagine yourself starting a family with Anna, you can't quite pin down what you're feeling.</p><p>You're still impressed by how much planning she'd done, it's pretty obvious she's excited about it, but still thinks rationally.</p><p>You're excited too, but not nearly as much as her, you still occasionally question if it's the right choice but you always reach the same conclusion.</p><p>You've had time to think about it, though it's hard not to question a choice as major as that one, you believe you're ready for the responsibilities.</p><p>You know it won't be easy, Anna knows it won't be easy, but you can manage so long as you have each other.</p><p>You don't think Anna's told anyone yet, you have doubts about her parents immediately warming up to the idea of having children before marriage.</p><p>You've considered marriage a few times, though you still don't know where to even begin, you know it'll happen eventually, you just don't know when.</p><p>You sometimes wonder if it's too early for all of this, you have more than fifty years to prepare in all reality.</p><p>You could accomplish a lot in that timespan, fifty years is by no means insignificant, most bees could turn their life around in less than a year.</p><p>You can't even begin to imagine how much you could do in as little as five years, nonetheless more than ten or fifteen.</p><p>It's probably still somewhere in the nature of bees to breed early, the species is technically partially made from humans.</p><p>Twenty years would have been the prime age for a human, bees would have likely adjusted to their lifespan by now if it wasn't for the short lifespan of the original bees.</p><p>Some bees decide it's time at older ages, if you remember correctly, Anna's grandparents were somewhere in their seventies when they had kids.</p><p>You've realized that whenever making any significant choice, you have to take your new "Family" into account, anything that involves Anna also involves them now.</p><p>You still need some time to really consider them family, you can't see yourself even calling them in-laws.</p><p>Despite that, you've become quick friends with Ethyl, she's been saying she's planning to visit you and Anna for a few weeks now, but she hasn't shown up yet.</p><p>Out of all of Anna's family, you're most comfortable speaking to Ethyl, you haven't gotten to know the others very well yet.</p><p>You still have no idea what she meant when she said she'd "Taken care of it.", you haven't seen any problems regarding that though.</p><p>You can only hope that turns out for the best, but that's not what matters right now, you're about to find out if you're going to be a father.</p><p>The next six months would be difficult, and the four years to follow would only be more difficult, though you wouldn't be sacrificing that much time.</p><p>You appreciate how much "Flexibility" you have, it's to be expected since it was specifically engineered to be like that.</p><p>It's amazing that you can spend almost two decades taking care of your child and still have the majority of your life ahead of you.</p><p>You'll be very busy for a few years but you believe it'll be worth it, you're ready to dedicate your time to it.</p><p>You put all your thoughts to a halt as you park your car in an appropriate spot before taking the short walk back to Anna's house.</p><p>You prepare yourself, taking several deep breaths before ringing the doorbell, you place your index finger on it and take it off after a second.</p><p>You wait for a few seconds, you're half zoning-out when you hear the door handle being moved from inside, a moment later you see Anna standing before you.</p><p>A smile immediately becomes apparent on her face when she sees you, you smile back, you both stand like that for a moment.</p><p>Anna softly says "Hey.", a moment later she invites you inside, you instantly accept the invitation and step inside, Anna closes the door behind you.</p><p>You stare at each other in silence for a moment, you feel a sense of comfort when being with Anna, you decide to give her a quick hug.</p><p>She doesn't resist, in fact it seems like she was planning to do the same, you don't feel a temptation to hug her for too long.</p><p>You let go of each other after a few second, you look at Anna's stomach and ask "Got any good news for me?".</p><p>Anna answers "I wanted you to be here when I take the test.", you kneel down and slightly lift Anna's top before kissing her stomach.</p><p>You say "I can't wait.", you proceed to stand back up, Anna says "Yeah, we've waited longer than we had to.".</p><p>Anna walks you over to the bathroom door and tells you to wait outside, you ask her how long it'll take and she says it shouldn't take longer than a few minutes.</p><p>Anna goes in and closes the door behind her, you wait outside, it feels like it's been more than minutes, your perception of time is disturbed as of now.</p><p>You can feel your heart beating faster than usual, you don't think much of it, it's to be expected at a time like this.</p><p>After what feels like an eternity of waiting, you hear the bathroom door opening, a moment later, Anna walks out, a look of disappointment filling her face.</p><p>You already know what happened but you still ask "What's wrong?", Anna quietly hands you the test, a quickly look reveals that it came out negative.</p><p>You remain silent for a moment, looking at the test, you can't place all your thoughts together into a comprehensive process.</p><p>You stop trying to gather your thoughts when you hear Anna quietly sobbing, you instantly turn to look at her to see tears slowly making their way down her face.</p><p>You immediately move over to her and try to comfort her, this is the first time you've ever seen her cry in all your time together.</p><p>You slowly walk her over to the couch and guide her into a sitting position, she covers her face with her hands and doesn't take them off.</p><p>You ask her why she's crying, as if you didn't already know, she answers by saying "I don't know." three times in succession.</p><p>You go back and forth between telling her everything is going to be fine and pleading with her not to cry but it seems largely ineffective.</p><p>She stops her silent crying and after a minute apologizes for "Letting you down.", you quickly reply by telling her she didn't let anyone down.</p><p>You run your hand up and down her back as to comfort her, it doesn't seem to be working though you have no confirmation.</p><p>Anna begins telling you about everything she'd planned, she speaks in an extremely sad tone, you've never heard her speaking like this.</p><p>Anna's always so bright and playful, you've never seen her this sad before, you can't quite understand why, it's not like you can't try for a baby again.</p><p>That doesn't matter now, the only thing that matters to you right now is comforting Anna, which has proven to be quite the difficult task.</p><p>Anna seems highly emotional, you can tell how much she'd been waiting for that, you can only imagine what it felt like to have all that destroyed.</p><p>Anna apologizes several times while trying to string together a comprehensible series of sentences, you keep telling her she has nothing to apologize for.</p><p>No matter how many times you say it, it feels like it's not getting through to her, you try placing your hand on her stomach to comfort her but she slowly takes it off.</p><p>Anna begins crying multiple times while talking, it doesn't feel like there's any rhyme or reason, you can't help but feel bad.</p><p>At one point, you just can't take it anymore, it tears you on the inside to see Anna like this, you can't handle seeing her like this.</p><p>You spend a few minutes trying to get her to calm down so that she would hear you out, it's frustrating but you can't find it in yourself to blame her for anything.</p><p>Eventually you grab her hand and hold it in front of you before saying "Anna, will you just please listen to me for a minute.".</p><p>Anna looks at you for the first time in what feels like hours, you're taken aback for a second when you see how red her eyes are from crying.</p><p>Her expression has a bit of expectancy and possibly curiosity but most of it is drowned out by a look of severe sadness.</p><p>You take a deep breath and begin talking, you say "Listen, please, you didn't let anyone down, especially me.", "It's not your fault, it really isn't.".</p><p>You continue "Please just stop blaming yourself for it.", you finish "Please, I can't handle seeing you like this.".</p><p>Anna looks at you for a minute, still sad but less than before, or at least that's what you think, you can only hope you spoke well.</p><p>Anna looks at her hand which is still being held by yours, you slightly tighten your grip on it as if to reassure her.</p><p>She doesn't say a word but instead does her best to hug you, you hold her tightly, she buries her face in your shoulder and begins to quietly sob again.</p><p>You say "You can't keep blaming yourself for this.", Anna slows down her sobbing though does not stop completely, you try to plead with her.</p><p>You plead by saying "Please Anna, for me, don't do this to yourself, please.", Anna stops crying and remains silent for a minute.</p><p>She then says "I don't know why, I can't.", you say "You can, I know you can.", Anna says "I don't know why I feel like this.".</p><p>You reply "It's fine, it's going to be alright.", Anna asks "Are you sure?", you answer "I'm certain of it.".</p><p>Anna quietly pulls away from you, she looks at you, her eyes still red from crying, you want to turn away, it pains you to see this.</p><p>She instantly looks down as not to face you, you ask "Can I get you anything?", Anna answers "No, I'm alright.".</p><p>Despite her answer, you quickly run over to the kitchen to get her a glass of water, you set the glass on the table in front of her.</p><p>She looks at it for a few seconds before drinking from it, she seems to be feeling better though still sad.</p><p>You ask "Is there anything I could do for you?", Anna stays silent for a moment then says "I'm sorry, I just need to be alone for a while.".</p><p>You ask "Are you going to be okay?", Anna answers "Yeah, I think so.", Anna gets up and slowly walks you to the door.</p><p>You both remain silent for a minute, you sigh and say "I'd better get going now.", Anna remains completely silent.</p><p>You say "If you need anything, and I mean anything, please call me.", before she has time to reply, you say "And please, take care of yourself, Anna.".</p><p>Anna looks at you, she tries to look confident but fails, nevertheless she does her best to say "I will." in an assuring tone.</p><p>You exit Anna's house and slowly walk back to your car, you get in and stare at the steering wheel in silence for a few minutes.</p><p>You don't feel like that could've gone any better though you still wish it had, you can't stop feeling bad for Anna, it hurts you to see her like that.</p><p>You really wish you could've done more but you don't think you could have, you don't understand why Anna blames herself, or if she even does.</p><p>You don't understand why she was so sad and you don't think she understands either, you can only hope she gets better very soon.</p><p>To you, what happened seemed to be not that big of a problem, you can try again in a few more months, you're not sure if that's what Anna's upset about.</p><p>You're fairly certain someone as smart as her knows that it isn't much of a problem, you'd have understood if she was a bit sad but not nearly this much.</p><p>You start wondering if you should be upset too, maybe deep down you are as upset as she is, maybe you just haven't had the time to realize it.</p><p>As much as you want to be with Anna to make sure she's safe, you understand she wants space, some alone time might even help her think it over.</p><p>You just have a bad feeling about leaving her alone after what you saw, you doubt she'd hurt herself intentionally but you still wish you could help her.</p><p>You look at the time and realize how early it still is, you have no idea how to spend the rest of your day, you doubt you can rest after what happened.</p><p>The only thing you can do right now is go home, you contemplate leaving but you're fully aware you can't stay here, you begin driving.</p><p>You do your best to focus on the road in front of you, besides paying attention to cars and pedestrians, you drive on complete instinct.</p><p>You don't know how long you spent driving, you can't help but be worried, you don't know if what happened is normal but you highly doubt it is.</p><p>You wonder what Anna is doing as of now, you hope she's decided to do something to take her mind off of it.</p><p>You think about calling her but quickly decide against it, you understand she wants to be left alone for some time, difficult as it is for you, you comply.</p><p>You barely even notice that you've arrived home, you slowly park your car in the garage and head inside, you don't know what you should do.</p><p>You sit down and stare at the ceiling, you do this for what feels like an eternity but in reality is no longer than a few minutes.</p><p>You can't take your mind off of Anna, you're constantly concerned about her well-being, you just want her to be safe.</p><p>You still have difficulty comprehending how sad she was, you wish you could've done more to help her.</p><p>After a while, you decide you can't keep staring at the ceiling while hoping that something happens, you try browsing the internet through your phone but it's no use.</p><p>You open your contacts several times, contemplating if you should call Anna, eventually you decide that you should talk to someone.</p><p>Your options are limited to say the least, you only feel comfortable talking about personal matters to two bees, Marty and Ethyl.</p><p>You're aware that Marty already has his own set of problems, or more so sorrows, you know how much of friends he and Wardo were, you know it's not easy for him.</p><p>You move on to the only real option available, you haven't talked to Ethyl in a few days, though you imagine she isn't busy at this hour.</p><p>You don't actually know what she does for a living, she never told you and you never thought to ask, not that it really matters.</p><p>It takes you a minute and one deep breathe to press the call button, you clear your throat a few times while the phone rings.</p><p>After about ten seconds of ringing, Ethyl answers the call, she says "Hey there, twerp.", you reply "Hey.", Ethyl says "Good thing you called, I have some good news.".</p><p>She continues "Well, good is subjective.", you ask "What is it?", she answers "Look, I know I've been saying I'll visit for the past few weeks.".</p><p>She continues "I know I've kept not showing up but this time I'm actually in town.", you reply by asking "That's good, or I hope it is, when will you visit?".</p><p>She answers "Actually, tomorrow if you don't mind.", you reply "I don't mind.", Ethyl asks "You sound a little down, twerp, is something wrong?".</p><p>You answer "Something happened with Anna, it's got us both pretty upset, especially her.", she asks "You wanna talk about it?".</p><p>You answer "Actually, I'd rather talk to you about it when you're here tomorrow.", she asks "You didn't hurt her, did you?".</p><p>You instantly answer "No, no, not at all, you know I would never do that to her.", Ethyl replies "Yeah, I know, I'm just messing with you.".</p><p>You reply "We're gonna have to draw the line for the jokes.", she says "Okay fine, that was pretty bad.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "But seriously, is she alright?", you answer "I hope so.", she asks "What do you mean you hope so?".</p><p>You answer "She said she needed to be alone for a while, we haven't talked since.", she replies "That's concerning.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Alright, I'm coming over first thing in the morning.", she continues "You better spill the beans.", you reply "Can't wait.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "So is that the only reason you called, twerp?", you answer "I needed to talk to someone.", she replies "Well, you can talk as much as you like.".</p><p>You ask "You said you've been meaning to show me something, is that happening tomorrow?", Ethyl answers "Yeah, it is.", she continues "I'm sure you'll like it.".</p><p>She says "You sound like you got something on your mind, twerp.", you reply "I do.", she says "You're free to tell me about it.".</p><p>You sigh and stay silent for a moment, you say "I'm just worried about Anna, she's never done anything like this before.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Was there any reason for her to do that?", you answer "She was pretty upset about what had just happened, it went on for a while.".</p><p>She asks "What did happen?", you answer "That's one of the parts I'm saving for tomorrow.", she asks "You're really gonna do that?".</p><p>You answer "I just think it's better if we talk about it face to face.", she says "So you're not going to tell me what's wrong with my younger sister.".</p><p>You reply "It sounds pretty bad when you say it like that.", she replies "It is bad when you think about it.".</p><p>You say "Yeah I know." you continue "I'm sorry, I just can't get myself to talk about it right now.", you finish "I don't even know how I'd say it.".</p><p>Ethyl says "You really went and did it this time, twerp.", you ask "What do you mean I went and did it?", she answers "Nothing, just messing with you.".</p><p>You ask "Can you stop that already?", you continue "This really isn't the time, or the subject to make fun of.", she replies "Yeah, alright, fine, I'll stop.".</p><p>You spend a few hours talking to Ethyl, you don't normally talk this long over the phone but she manages to keep the conversation going.</p><p>Throughout the entire conversation, she refers to you as "Twerp" rather than your real name, she started doing this a week ago as another one of her jokes.</p><p>You say "You know, I'm actually excited to see you again.", Ethyl chuckles and asks "And why is that?", you answer "It's been a while since we last saw each other.".</p><p>She replies "I was hoping for a different answer.", you reply "Yeah, I know you were.", you continue "I know if I did give you that answer you'd keep teasing me about it.".</p><p>Ethyl says "I have plenty of things to tease you about.", you try to ask "Like what?" but she cuts you off before you can do so.</p><p>Ethyl begins trying to tease you, she says "So are we going to pick up where we left off when I come by tomorrow?", she doesn't give you time to reply.</p><p>She continues "We wouldn't have to worry about anyone catching us, you know.", she says "We'd be alone, just you and me, we could do whatever we want.".</p><p>She finishes "We could do a lot more than we did last time, we could get very personal.", you can hear her trying not to laugh after she finishes talking.</p><p>You say "You know, as tempting as that sounds, I'm gonna have to decline your offer.", Ethyl replies "We'll see about that.".</p><p>You reply "I apologize, Ethyl, I'm already in a relationship.", you continue "With your sister no less, I don't feel like cheating.".</p><p>Ethyl jokingly says "Well, aren't you just faithful.", you reply "But seriously, you know I wouldn't do that, especially with you.".</p><p>She replies "I do have something that'll change your mind.", you ask "I can't think of anything that could do that, what is it?".</p><p>Ethyl chuckles and says "You're going to have to wait until tomorrow to find that out.", you reply "I see how it is, that's fair enough I suppose.".</p><p>She says "An eye for an eye.", you say "Yeah, I don't intend to get past the stage of friends with you.", you continue "That's just immoral.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Oh, if only you knew.", you ask "Knew what?", she answers "Just prepare yourself for what I'm gonna show you tomorrow.".</p><p>You ask "How am I supposed to prepare myself if I don't know what it is?", she answers "Think of it as a surprise, a gift but not specifically just for you.".</p><p>You reply "That's not very descriptive.", Ethyl says "Can't say more without ruining the surprise.", you reply "Alright then.".</p><p>You keep talking to Ethyl for more time, it's nice to talk to someone, she always seems to have a new topic.</p><p>Eventually, Ethyl says "Alright, it's getting pretty late, twerp.", "Yeah, we should probably just call it a night.".</p><p>Ethyl replies "Mhm, I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight.", you say "Goodnight." and hang up, you burned through quite a bit of time talking to Ethyl.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You enjoy talking to her, she's easy to talk to, does a good job cheering someone up, and you can talk to her about yourself and Anna freely.</p><p>You know you won't be able to sleep that easily tonight, you're still worried about Anna, you hope she's been able to sleep tonight but you doubt it.</p><p>You know the only place you can go right now, you haven't gone there in more than a month, not at a time as late as this one.</p><p>You haven't talked to Bill, you haven't found a reason to call or text him, he doesn't always have a reason to be there, and neither do you.</p><p>You promptly walk out the front door and lock it, you begin walking towards the park, you walk slowly, watching the lively night as you move.</p><p>It's pretty calm near where you live, it gets more lively the further away you move, you've never liked going out for a night with anyone, you prefer staying indoors.</p><p>In fact you only go out at night to go to the place, you continue walking for a while until you reach the park, you stand at the entrance and sigh before walking in.</p><p>You slowly walk to your usual bench, you see a figure sitting on it, you're not surprised, Bill supposedly comes here every other day.</p><p>You approach the bench, you're standing about a meter away when Bill says "Knew you'd come tonight, only reason I'm here.", you walk over to the bench and sit down.</p><p>You ask "How'd you know?", Bill answers "Saw you earlier, paying your respects maybe.", he continues "Was visiting an old friend myself when I saw you.".</p><p>You reply "Not the reason I'm here.", Bill says "Hmm, whoever lay in that grave wasn't enough to drag you here, something else was.".</p><p>You say "Tried to help someone, don't think I succeeded, failure won't let me be.", Bill replies "Failure haunts you, too common in life.".</p><p>Bill says "Can tell you of a man with failures that haunted him, if you so wish to listen.", you reply "Can't see it doing harm to know.".</p><p>Bill begins talking, "He'd had plenty of failures in the past, everyone does, none of them as major as the one he was about to have.".</p><p>"He'd dedicated his time to something new, something he had discovered, for once, something he was good at, at least better than most.".</p><p>"Could barely believe it when he saw his own performance, though it made sense to some degree, wouldn't be the first time someone in his bloodline had done it.".</p><p>"Well, half of his bloodline, the half that mattered, few of them used to do what he was doing, he'd heard stories, couldn't remember details, couldn't ask for any.".</p><p>"He knew what he was doing, was passionate about it, never dedicated himself to something as much as he dedicated himself to it, never finished anything major beside it.".</p><p>"At first, he knew it wouldn't succeed, was half-way done with accepting that fact, but the closer he got to finishing his work, signs of success appeared.".</p><p>"Had support from his friends, even some strangers, couldn't help but have his hopes up, wanted something to go right for once.".</p><p>"His lie was plagued with misfortune, had to suffer his whole life because bees made bad choices, but this time, it was all up to him, no one could influence it.".</p><p>"This would be his, no one could take it from him, no one could change it, and he had finished it, he looked at it with pride, his achievement, no one else's.".</p><p>"And it had been time to show that achievement to the world, few had seen it by then, but he had big plans for it, did a lot of preparation.".</p><p>"And he pressed the button that would show his achievement to the world should they look, was difficulties, though friends helped him overcome them.".</p><p>"Well, he waited, and he waited, and what came would destroy him.", "Failure came, claimed his work, his time, his effort, everything he'd put towards it.".</p><p>"And after that, something in him changed, he became different, something in him burned out, and he know he couldn't get it back, couldn't get any of it back.".</p><p>"And he was left alone to ponder his failure, no one could help him, he still didn't fully understand that he'd failed, had never felt failure that badly before.".</p><p>"He tried to collect his thoughts, and again he failed, he was hurt, hurt in a way he'd never been hurt before, he'd been in a special kind of hell.".</p><p>"After a while, he looked at the dark night sky, was completely dark, starless, moonless, empty yet full, occupied yet not, found comfort in it.".</p><p>"He looked at it and wondered, why had he failed, how could he fail where his predecessors had succeeded, his own family, what was he missing.".</p><p>"What did they have that he didn't have, how were they different, he'd seen that success, was a child, could barely remember, but he saw it, it had taken physical form.".</p><p>"But then he wondered, was what he saw success, or was it just, a reminder of failure, a representation of what one could have been but could no longer be.".</p><p>"He couldn't ask, he'd tried to search in the past, couldn't find anything, he asked himself, if his predecessors had failed, what did they do afterwards.".</p><p>"Did they give up, did they move on, did they try again, did they not let go, he had no way of knowing, he decided it didn't matter, he was different from them.".</p><p>"Whatever they had done would not affect him now, they'd reached the end of their story, now it was time for him to start his own, and he would certainly try.".</p><p>"He gave up, for a time, but he couldn't let go of what he had created, he'd wanted to try again but he failed, he couldn't do it no matter how hard he tried.".</p><p>"Then he looked again, same place he looked all those nights ago, but it wasn't night anymore, the sun had taken reign of the sky.".</p><p>"He looked, not at the sky, but at the world beneath it, and he got to thinking, he'd seen that world, seen it many times in fact, remembered it all.".</p><p>"But he had never seen it like he would see it now, his way of seeing was changed, he had new marks on him, ones that changed the way he saw everything.".</p><p>"The world had not changed, the way he would receive it has, the way he would see it, the way he would get to know it again, he had to go out to that world again.".</p><p>"He couldn't go alone, the world was far too dangerous, his closest friends had lived in other parts of the world, he could not go with them, though he wished he could.".</p><p>"He'd cut ties with friends that he could have gone with, he would try to make amends but knew he might not succeed, he couldn't rely on them.".</p><p>"That left him one option, one companion, his canine companion, a dog he had not known for more than a few month, considered it one of his family.".</p><p>"He'd made it a point to go out into the world again, but he never could, he would try, try for days on end, never quite getting there, another failure.".</p><p>"He'd try to contact the ones he'd cut ties with, try to walk the bridges he'd burned, never had the guts to talk to them, didn't have the words.".</p><p>"Didn't know what he would say to them, he realized he wasn't ready to face the world again, so he went back to his own world, the one he controlled.".</p><p>"Wasn't a place of comfort, far from it, was a place where all his failures gathered, he looked at his work, he still saw the potential, the uniqueness.".</p><p>"And he'd made his mind, if he couldn't face the world outside, he would face the world inside, he would face his failures, he would try again, and try he did.".</p><p>"He would try until he was capable of facing the world outside, first making no progress, a few nights later, he was recollected, moving at considerable speeds.".</p><p>"He felt it again, the happiness, the pride, seeing his work become more than thoughts, it made him feel as if he'd had purpose again, a reason to be.".</p><p>"He put pieces of himself in his work, let his thoughts materialize, made it feel personal, made him attached, could have been a mistake.".</p><p>"He never put his name into his work, no, that would be too much attachment, he had already put the name of someone else in his first work.".</p><p>"Had ties to that person, were friends, not so much anymore, stopped talking, realized he wasn't doing himself any good talking to them, but he owed them.".</p><p>"Didn't owe them much, but they gave him an idea, the idea that would eventually become what he was working on, had to give credit where credit was due.".</p><p>"Didn't praise them, didn't bash them, but he kept the same role they had in the real world, they had caused it to happen in the real world, they would do so in his.".</p><p>"They started it in the real world, they would be the ones to start it in his world, in his work, they were forever part of his work, just as his work was part of them.".</p><p>"They'd put their mark, and he'd put his, both lasting until the end of time, both changing each other, a fair exchange, maybe it should have never happened, but it did.".</p><p>Bill finishes "Learn from that what you wish, the words stay the same, the way you see them, understand them, that's what's different.".</p><p>You take a minute, processing everything Bill had said, you've never thought of him as a scholar but his vast knowledge about bees before the Switch is simply impressive.</p><p>You say "Fascinating, can learn so much from one man or woman.", Bill replies "That's why I study them, bees before the Switch, their stories, have to learn from them.".</p><p>Bill says "Came here today to see what questions you had, wanted to learn from you.", he continues "Didn't intend for it to happen like this.".</p><p>You reply "You learned something from yourself today, can see it in you.", you continue "Already knew those words, now you heard them again, saw them differently.".</p><p>Bill says "I'm done for the day, did more than I had to.", he continues "Don't think I'll be here again this month, found the problem with this place.".</p><p>You ask "What is it?", he answers "This place, always stays the same, the way you see it doesn't change, no use for it in the world, everything has to change.".</p><p>He continues "The way you see this place changes only once, and that's when you figure it out, realize it doesn't change, realize you don't come here for it.".</p><p>He finishes "Came here today because of you, you learned here today from me, neither came here for this place, took nothing from it.".</p><p>You say "True enough, place lost its purpose.", you ask "Where does that leave us?", Bill answers "My advice, don't come here again, might end up like some of the others.".</p><p>He continues "Can keep contact without this place, might even be easier.", you reply "Alright, let's leave this place behind then.".</p><p>Bill says "We either leave it behind or stay with it, it can't move forward.", you both get up, Bill says "Still, we owe this place some answers, don't forget that.".</p><p>You and Bill part ways, you take a good look at the place, it won't go anywhere, you can always come back, but you understand what Bill said.</p><p>You begin walking back home, you feel different, you learned a lot today, maybe there is something to be learned from the bees before the Switch.</p><p>Maybe they have answers, maybe you can learn from their mistakes, you continue walking home, it's a short walk but it still takes a while.</p><p>It's not until you step inside that you realize how tired you are, you quickly wash yourself up and lie down in your bed, alone.</p><p>You force yourself to keep your eyes closed, you fall asleep after about ten minuets of complete and total silence.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I'm trying my best to repair my computer, which is easier said than done due to a lack of any OS. Nevertheless, I struggled with my phone to bring you more of my awful creations.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You wake up at around seven in the morning the next day, you stay in bed for a while, you're not sure why, you just don't feel like getting up.</p><p>You then remember that you have to get up early today, Ethyl said she'd be coming over "First thing in the morning.".</p><p>You lazily get up from your bed and wash yourself up, you get dressed in clothes appropriate for the weekend.</p><p>You wait around for maybe thirty minutes before you hear the doorbell ring, you instantly run over to the door and look into the eyehole.</p><p>You see Ethyl standing outside, you promptly open the door, Ethyl tilts her head the moment you open the door, you look at each other for a second.</p><p>You say "Hey, you actually came this time.", Ethyl replies "I half-expected you to be asleep right now.", you invite her inside.</p><p>You step aside allowing her to walk in, she does so slowly, you close the door behind her, "Nice place, twerp.".</p><p>She says "I'm not smelling any rotting corpses so that's a good sign.", you ask "And you would know what one of those smells like?".</p><p>Ethyl answers "Yeah, it smells like my basement.", you reply "Yeah sure, come with me.", you guide Ethyl to the couch and invite her to take a seat, she accepts.</p><p>She sets a bag on the table, she'd been carrying since she walked in, she doesn't reveal the contents of the bag yet.</p><p>You ask "Can I get you something?", Ethyl answers "Nah, just sit down, we have something to talk about.", you sit down on the couch keeping some distance between you both.</p><p>Ethyl asks "How you doing, twerp?", you answer "I'm fine I guess, how about you?", she answers "I was feeling pretty good until I walked in.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Right, so, now you're gonna tell me what happened between you and Anna.", you sigh and reply "Alright, get comfortable, it's gonna take a while.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "What made her upset in the first place?", you answer "About a month ago we decided it was final, we were going to have our first child.".</p><p>Ethyl looks taken aback by this, she says "Woah, I knew you guys were committed but I didn't think you were already starting a family.".</p><p>You reply "We'd been planning it for a while now, more than a few months.", you continue "Anna was especially passionate about it, she'd been waiting for it.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Well, what happened?", you answer "That's the thing, it didn't happen.", she replies "Keep going, tell me more.".</p><p>You sigh and say "I went over to her house yesterday to be there when she took the test.", you continue "She was excited about it.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "She was excited about what exactly?", you answer "The whole thing, she'd always tell me about her plans whenever we were together.".</p><p>Ethyl looks surprised while saying "I didn't know she wanted to start a family that much, she never told anyone about it.".</p><p>You say "I waited outside the bathroom for a few minutes.", you continue "When she came out, she looked disappointed, she handed me the test and it was negative.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "And?", you answer "And, that was the first time I'd ever seen her cry.", she replies "Oh, huh, I haven't seen her cry in years.".</p><p>She asks "Was it really something to cry about?", you answer "It was, for her at least, she kept crying quietly, I could barely hear her.".</p><p>You say "I kept telling her everything was going to be alright but I wasn't getting through to her.", you continue "I begged and I pleaded with her not to cry.".</p><p>You finish "It felt devastating to watch her cry.", Ethyl looks sympathetic while saying "I'm sorry, that must've been tough.".</p><p>You say "I managed to get her to sit down but she didn't stop crying, she kept covering her face with her hands.".</p><p>You continue "Eventually, I convinced her to listen to me for a minute.", you finish "I remember looking at her eyes and seeing how red they were from crying.".</p><p>Ethyl's look of sympathy turns to that of concern, she says "When you said cry, I didn't think you meant this much.".</p><p>You reply "She would barely stop to breathe for a second before going back to crying, she only stopped when I convinced her to hear what I have to say.".</p><p>You say "She kept blaming herself and apologizing for something, I could barely understand her when she tried to talk while crying.".</p><p>You continue "I pleaded with her to stop blaming herself, to stop apologizing, to stop crying, I told her none of it was her fault.".</p><p>You finish "When I asked her why she was crying, she said she didn't know and said that she couldn't stop even if she tried.".</p><p>Ethyl doesn't say anything but looks at you expectantly, you say "I told her I couldn't handle watching her do that to herself.".</p><p>Ethyl says "I can't imagine how hard it would've been to see that.", you say "She wrapped her arms around me and began crying on my shoulder.".</p><p>You continue "I told her it was alright and everything was going to be fine.", you finish "And for the first time in almost an hour, she stopped crying completely.".</p><p>Ethyl says "That had to have been hard on you, I'm sorry you had to go through that.", you say "I managed to get her to drink some water.".</p><p>You continue "I asked her if there was anything I could do for her, she said she needed to be left alone for a while.".</p><p>You finish "I begged her to take care of herself before I left, she told me she would but I still don't feel good about leaving her alone after that.".</p><p>Ethyl stays silent for a minute before saying "I don't know what to say, that must have been awful.", you reply "I'm just worried about her.".</p><p>You continue "I want to go check up on her, make sure she's fine, but I know that she wants some space.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Is there something I could do to help?", you answer "Actually, I could do with a hug right about now.", Ethyl looks confused.</p><p>She asks "You genuinely just want a hug right now?", you answer "Well, yeah, I feel like I really need one right now.".</p><p>Ethyl laughs and says "Alright then, I can do that if you really want to.", you reply "I'd like to, if you don't have a problem with it.".</p><p>Ethyl again laughs and says "I guess I don't mind, alright let's get on with it.", you usually don't feel awkward when hugging Anna since you do it instinctively.</p><p>This time however, it's a different bee, and it doesn't come from instinct by any means, it takes a minute for you and Ethyl to be in a proper hugging position.</p><p>You both start off by getting closer to each other, you awkwardly position your arms properly, Ethyl does her best to do the same.</p><p>Eventually after a few moments, you're somewhat properly hugging each other, it's slightly comforting but mostly awkward.</p><p>After a few seconds, Ethyl says "Alright, you've had enough for now." and pulls away, you reply "See, that wasn't so bad.".</p><p>Ethyl jokingly asks "Is it usually this awkward when you do it with Anna?", you answer "Not even close, not even the first time was this awkward.".</p><p>Ethyl again jokingly asks "Was your first kiss awkward?", you answer "Funny story about that.", you continue "We had our first proper kiss the day after we had sex.".</p><p>Ethyl looks slightly surprised but she also seems to find what you said funny, you say "Things escalated pretty quickly, we'd had quite a bit of wine that night.".</p><p>In an attempt to tease you, Ethyl says "Well, we already had our first kiss.", she asks "When do we move on to the next part?".</p><p>You answer "We don't.", you ask Ethyl "You still haven't told me, what do you mean by you took care of it?", Ethyl answers "Fine, I'll show you.".</p><p>Ethyl takes out her phone and goes through her messages with Anna, she stops scrolling and shows you a portion of a conversation.</p><p>Anna had said "Alright look, I've thought about what you said, and after a while of thinking.", she continued "I agree, we can try it, the three of us.".</p><p>She finished with "I hate that you convinced me to do this, as fun as it sounds, it's still weird.", you don't have a lot of context.</p><p>You say "I don't quite understand, this isn't a lot to go off of.", Ethyl ask "Alright so, remember when I went and talked to her privately?".</p><p>You answer "Yeah, I remember.", she says "Well, she once told me that she liked to switch things up every once in a while rather than keep having sex the same way.".</p><p>She continues "So, I used that to my advantage, it took a lot of convincing and a bit of smooth-talking but it worked.".</p><p>You're still confused but you see where she's going with this, you manage to say "Oh, you did not" before being cut off by Ethyl.</p><p>She says "Yes I did, I convinced her that the three of us should do it.", you ask "How does that solve anything?", you continue "That can only make things worse.".</p><p>Ethyl replies "We don't have to feel bad about it anymore, we'll be doing a whole lot more than just kissing soon enough.".</p><p>She continues "Come on, it won't be that bad, it'll be fun for all three of us.", you ask "Is this another really terrible joke?".</p><p>Ethyl answers "It's not, it's completely serious.", Ethyl once again takes out her phone and shows you a conversation she had with Anna.</p><p>She points to a message where Anna said that you and Ethyl should "Get to know each other, on a personal level.", you say "I doubt she'd agree to it after what happened.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Well, it's technically just a bonus, I did it with the intention of not having to feel bad about what we did.".</p><p>You say "I feel like there was a better way to go about it.", she replies "I don't think so.", she continues "We have her permission to get to know each other.".</p><p>You ask "What does that even mean?", Ethyl moves closer to you and answers "It means we can do a lot of things without feeling bad about them.".</p><p>You say "How about no, you didn't even ask me before deciding that.", Ethyl replies "Alright, look, it looks pretty bad but just focus with me for a minute.".</p><p>She says "I offered her a way to change things up for one time and she spent a good few days thinking about it before she agreed.".</p><p>She continues "She agreed because she wanted to try it, and to be honest, I wanna try it too, so that leaves you.".</p><p>She finishes by asking "So, do you want to try it?", you answer "I don't know.", Ethyl says "It wouldn't be cheating, she'll be taking part in it.".</p><p>You stay silent for a few moments, she says "Oh come on, don't make me beg.", you reply "Alright, alright, I'll try it.", Ethyl looks satisfied.</p><p>She jokingly says "Well, now you owe me for bailing you out of that.", you reply by asking "Do I?", she chuckles while saying "Yes, you do.".</p><p>You ask "Alright, fine, what do you want in return?", Ethyl answers "I want a kiss.", you reply "I didn't quite catch that, run that by me again.".</p><p>She laughs and says "I want you to kiss me.", she continues "We didn't get to enjoy it last time, and we don't have to feel bad about it anymore.".</p><p>You say "I don't know.", Ethyl looks at you and says "Come on, do it for me.", you sigh and reply with "Alright, I'll try.".</p><p>Ethyl places her face in front of yours, she positions her lips to be close to yours, you try to get yourself to kiss her but you can't.</p><p>You look at her and say "I can't do it, even if we have permission.", Ethyl moves away from you, she laughs and says "Unfortunate but I came prepared.".</p><p>She opens the bag she brought with her to reveal a bottle of gin, you say "Please tell me you don't have an addiction to alcohol.".</p><p>Ethyl laughs and says "Nah, I just like to share a drink with someone every once in a while.", she continues "I always go for the ones with the most pure alcohol in them.".</p><p>You reply "Gin isn't that good of a choice if you plan on getting drunk off of it.", she replies "That's why I get the ones with the most drink strength."</p><p>Ethyl asks "Could I trouble you for a glass?", you answer "Actually, we shouldn't drink on an empty stomach.", you continue "Let me make you something.".</p><p>She replies by asking "Oh come on, that's gonna take forever, can't we just order a pizza or something?", you answer "We very much could.".</p><p>You ask "Alright fine, what will it be?", she answers "Anything works.", you quickly order a pizza, just a pizza, nothing special.</p><p>You say "Well, now we wait.", you continue by asking "How do you wanna pass the time?", she answers "I'd have liked to spend it making out with you here.".</p><p>You reply "That won't be happening, yet.", she says "I like how you talk like you're intentionally planning to do it.".</p><p>You reply "Well, your lips do look very inviting.", you continue "I wouldn't mind spending a while kissing them.", Ethyl seems to appreciate your humor.</p><p>She says "I wouldn't mind either.", she continues "You're a pretty good kisser from what I remember.", you reply "Maybe, we'll find out soon enough.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Does it really take that much talk before just kissing?", you answer "Usually not.", she asks "Had any special kisses with Anna you'd like to share?".</p><p>You answer "Not really, it's usually when we feel like it or just foreplay.", she chuckles and says "Foreplay, huh, interesting.".</p><p>She laughs and asks "Can you give me details about what happens after the foreplay?", you answer "It's hard to get going without the foreplay, after that, the fun begins.".</p><p>Ethyl says "So, tell me about how she switches things up.", you reply "Well, one time we did it while taking a bath together.".</p><p>She says "Interesting, keep going.", you say "She also decided to do it while taking a shower right before work.", Ethyl can't help but laugh.</p><p>She says "Tell me more.", you reply "She once took me out to spend a day in cabin in the middle of nowhere and decided to do it there before leaving.".</p><p>You continue "She used a picnic blanket at first but soon enough we were doing it on the grass, and she did not hold back on the moaning at all.".</p><p>Ethyl laughs and says "Aunty would be pretty upset if she found out about that, keep going.", you say "Actually, we once did it on this very couch.".</p><p>She slightly shudders before asking "You did clean it up afterwards, right?", you jokingly answer "Don't remember doing so.", she replies "Yeah, sure.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Anna likes getting pretty wild, doesn't she.", you reply "She says she tries to keep it interesting so we wouldn't get bored.".</p><p>You continue "That wouldn't have been a problem for six month had we actually managed to." you pause, you finish "Reproduce.".</p><p>She replies "More like two years, if that baby would have been anything like Anna when she was that small, it would have not stopped crying, trust me, I know.".</p><p>You ask "Did she cry a lot?", she answers "A lot is an understatement, we could barely sleep for a couple of hours every night before she'd start crying again.".</p><p>You ask "How'd you calm her down?", Ethyl answers "She just needed someone to hold her for a few minutes and she'd immediately go back to sleep like nothing had happened.".</p><p>You say "She does like to cuddle, she does it any chance we get.", she replies "Isn't that just adorable.", you reply "It's pretty nice.".</p><p>Ethyl jokingly says "You know, the more I hear about you two, the more I get jealous.", you reply "Sorry, you're gonna have to ask Anna to share if you want part in it.".</p><p>She says "Hmm, that is quite the interesting idea, I'm gonna have to look into that.", you reply "No, no, you've already forced yourself in enough.".</p><p>You continue "Just let us have a relationship in peace.", Ethyl says "Hey, I noticed you haven't been facing me while we talk.", she asks "Something the matter?".</p><p>You sigh and say "I'm sorry, I just can't look you in the eye.", she asks "Why is that?", you answer "Yours look a lot like Anna's, despite the color difference.".</p><p>You continue "Every time I look at them, I get reminded of how Anna's eyes looked yesterday.", you finish "I just can't.".</p><p>Ethyl says "That really did hit you hard, I'm sorry, not that me saying it counts for much.", you reply "You've been a lot of help so far.".</p><p>You continue "I couldn't get what happened off my mind, you did a great job keeping it off, whether it be intentional or not.".</p><p>Before Ethyl has time to reply, the doorbell rings, you instantly get up to open it, you open the door and complete the transaction, simple enough.</p><p>You bring the box of hot pizza back into the living room and set it on the table, you sit back down next to Ethyl, you promptly open the box.</p><p>Ethyl looks at the pizza and says "That looks good.", you look at her and say "You look good.", she looks at you and giggles.</p><p>She says "Come on then, let's dig in.", each of you take a single slice and begin eating it, Ethyl seems to be eating it with haste.</p><p>You say "You could've just told me you were hungry.", she replies "I wanna get through this as fast as possible so we can get on to the next part.".</p><p>You reply "Guess that can't be avoided.", she asks "What's wrong with a bit of drinking?", you answer "To be honest, highly alcoholic gin doesn't sound great.".</p><p>She replies "Yeah, okay, fine, it sounds terrible.", you and Ethyl eat a few slices while talking, the conversation doesn't have many highlights.</p><p>Ethyl asks "So you two were actually like, actually going to start a family?", you answer "Yeah, we were.", she replies "Sounds like you're moving quickly.".</p><p>You say "I thought so too, but the way she talked about, the way she told me what she had planned, I just couldn't say no.".</p><p>She asks "What did she have planned?", you answer "Well the thing is, I didn't pay too much attention.", you continue "I was mostly distracted admiring her.".</p><p>You finish "Just like now, I'm not paying attention to the conversation, I'm busy admiring you.", Ethyl laughs a bit, it seems what you said was well-received.</p><p>Ethyl jokingly asks "Which part are you admiring?", you answer "Well, if I'm being honest.", you continue "Your face is pretty admirable.".</p><p>You finish "Well, not just that, the rest of your body is also stunning.", she replies "Well then, that's new.", she continues "Thanks for that.".</p><p>You continue talking with Ethyl for a few minutes, none of it is noteworthy until she asks "How'd Anna intend to tell us about?".</p><p>You answer "When I asked her what she was going to tell her parents, she just told me not to worry about it.", you continue "She said they'd understand after a good talk.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Mom would've been supportive of the idea, don't think Dad would've minded it too much.", she continues "They like doing things the classic way.".</p><p>She finishes "You know, get married, buy a house, live together for a few months, and after that get to the reproducing.", before you can reply, you hear a notification.</p><p>A quick look shows that it's a message from Anna, you instantly unlock your phone and get to reading it, you can feel Ethyl looking at the phone.</p><p>The first message reads "Hey, I'm sorry about yesterday, I don't how or why that happened, I know you tried to help.", the message is followed by another.</p><p>This one reads "I would like to talk about it but I think now I just need to be alone for a while more, I'm sorry I had you leave like that.".</p><p>The last message reads "Sorry if I had you worried, I'm fine, I hope you are too, just don't worry about me, I'll be alright.".</p><p>Ethyl says "That has got to feel bad.", you reply "Yeah, just give me a minute.", you continue "It's hard to find the words.".</p><p>You send a message containing "It's alright, don't be hard on yourself.", you follow it up with "I know you need time, and I'm ready to wait for you, no matter how long.".</p><p>You then follow it up with "I understand you need space, that's fine, I was just worried about leaving you alone after what happened.".</p><p>You then finish with "Just tell me if you need anything, and take care of yourself.", Ethyl asks "You finished?", you answer "I think so.".</p><p>Ethyl says "It's nice seeing how much you two care about each other, despite the current circumstances.", you reply "I just hope she's safe.".</p><p>Ethyl puts her hand on your shoulder and says "She'll be alright.", she continues "Anna's pretty smart, she'll figure it out, just give her some time.".</p><p>Ethyl says "In the meantime, we were talking about marriage.", she continues "I remember you telling me you've strongly considered it.".</p><p>You say "I have, a lot.", you continue "There's just a lot of things I don't know.", she replies "You can ask me about them, trust me, I know a lot.".</p><p>You say "Well, starting off, I'm afraid she'll say no.", Ethyl replies "If you want to make sure she'll say yes, you're gonna have to make the few days prior really good.".</p><p>She continues "Spend a few days showing her how much you love her.", she finishes "It'd if it was a special occasion.".</p><p>You say "I've been thinking about the timing, and I think I have an idea.", you continue "That's not important now.", you ask "How do I make the days prior good?".</p><p>Ethyl answers "Just show her how you feel.", you ask "How do I do that?", she replies "So, you actually don't know, that complicates things.".</p><p>She says "Alright, tell me how you actually feel about her.", you reply "I love her, from the bottom of my heart.", you continue "I want to be with her my entire life.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Alright, you need to show her that.", she continues "Spend a few days with her, do everything she likes doing.".</p><p>She finishes "Let her build up emotions for a few days and then hit her with the question.", you reply "That sounds like it would actually work.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "What's next?", you answer "I'm concerned about her parents disagreeing, especially with the timing I chose, I'm mostly worried about Everett.".</p><p>She says "In terms of convincing Dad, you should have a private conversation with him a while before proposing, you don't have to give him details.".</p><p>She continues "Dad seems to like you so you have that going for you, he'll likely be the one asking questions, I know, he did it to us all when we were young.".</p><p>She finishes "You just need to give him the right answers, you should be honest with him, and make sure Anna doesn't catch on as to why you're talking to him.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Got anything else?", you answer "Well, I don't know how to plan a marriage.", she replies "That's not really that big of a problem.".</p><p>She says "You just propose to her and spend your engagement planning it out with her, you can easily read up on anything else.".</p><p>You say "That's all I have for now.", you continue "You've been really helpful, thank you.", you finish "I may need your help in the future if you don't mind.".</p><p>Ethyl laughs and says "I don't mind, it's worth the time if the reward is not having you look like a dimwit while proposing to my sister.".</p><p>You say "I hope it goes well.", Ethyl replies "You'll do just fine, twerp.", she asks "So, when are you gonna drop the question?".</p><p>You answer "I'm gonna keep it a secret from everyone until about a week or two before I do it.", you continue "Trust me, I know the perfect time of year.".</p><p>Ethyl says "I see how it is, I give you a bit of advice and now you think you can do it all on your own.", you reply "Oh don't be like that, I got this.".</p><p>She says "Yeah, I'm just messing with you.", she continues "Just remember to be confident.", you reply "I'll keep that in mind.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Now, this has gone on quite a while.", she continues "I believe you were going to get a couple of glasses and a bit of ice.".</p><p>You say "Alright, I guess I do owe you for all of that.", she says "Don't suppose you got a bottle of tonic water stashed somewhere, gonna taste terrible without it.".</p><p>You reply "Got some last week, should still have an unopened bottle.", you walk to the kitchen and grab a small glass bowl, you put a few ice cubes in it.</p><p>You put a pair of ice tongs in the bowl, you proceed to quickly grab two glasses and stack one inside the other, you take the bowl and glasses and set them on the table.</p><p>You run back to the kitchen and grab the unopened bottle of tonic water which you'd stored in the fridge in order to keep it chilled.</p><p>You take the bottle back to the living room, you set it down on the table just as Ethyl finishes pouring a bit of gin into each glass after having placed some ice in each.</p><p>She grabs the bottle and adds tonic to each glass, you sit back down next to Ethyl and grab a glass, you look at it and say "This does not look promising.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Oh come on, I'm sure it'll be fine.", she continues "Just try to keep it down in your stomach.", she finishes "Come on now, down the lips and past the gums.".</p><p>You do your best to down some of the liquid contained within the glass, it's not as bad as you expected, though it's not that great, you've had better, much better.</p><p>Ethyl sets her glass down a few seconds before you, she waits for you to set yours down before asking "So, how is it?", you answer "Could be worse, could be better.".</p><p>She says "Alright so, back on topic.", you ask "What was the topic?", she answers "I was mostly asking about you and Anna, I find it interesting.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Kinda hard to believe you were going to put a baby in her.", you reply "As much as I would have liked for it to work, it didn't.".</p><p>She says "I could see you guys taking care of a child, you seem like you'd do well.", she continues "I can imagine Anna being happy with it.".</p><p>She finishes "Wouldn't mind it too much myself, doesn't sound too bad.", she laughs after saying that, you laugh and reply "I could put one in you if you want to.".</p><p>Ethyl looks at you and asks "Would you?", you answer "For comedic value, I'm gonna say yes and hope that you don't get any ideas from it.".</p><p>She asks "And what if I did get some ideas from it, would you say no?", you answer "Yeah, we're gonna need to draw the line way on behind breeding.".</p><p>She says "Yeah, fine, won't joke about that anymore, I know you're still sensitive about it.", she asks "So, you two got any special names you call each other?".</p><p>You answer "I don't think so.", she says "You've been together for almost a year and still haven't gotten any names, that seems like a mistake.".</p><p>You reply "I don't know, it doesn't feel natural to call her anything besides her real name.", Ethyl asks "You try calling her something like Sweet Pea or Honey?".</p><p>You answer "No, it sounds pretty weird, especially the latter.", you continue "It made sense for humans, probably not appropriate to call your partner female discharge.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Couples still do it, I've done it a few times myself.", you ask "How do you even get used to it?", she answers "Just do it when you're alone with her.".</p><p>She continues "You'll get used to calling her that and it'll grow on her.", she continues "Knowing Anna, she'll probably be into it.".</p><p>You say "I'll try.", you continue "You seem to know what you're talking about.", she asks "Why do you think that is?".</p><p>You answer "You're the one who's known Anna for two decades.", you continue "You also have more, how do I put it, relationship experience.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Yeah, I have yet to find someone I'd wanna settle down with.", she continues "You know, haven't been in a relationship I wanna commit to for too long.".</p><p>You say "Well, no offence but I can kind of see why.", you continue "The way we interact has changed since we met, it changed quite a bit.".</p><p>She asks "How'd it change?", you answer "You had that touch of innocence when we met, you know what I mean.", you continue "It's completely gone.".</p><p>She says "Gimme an example.", you reply "You'd try to sugarcoat everything, you know.", you continue "Like when you took me aside and asked for my number.".</p><p>You finish "Now you've become very, direct, you don't try to partially hide the meaning behind something anymore.".</p><p>She asks "How does that affect a relationship?", you answer "Your first impression and the development in your way of interaction, those are just so, different.".</p><p>You continue talking to Ethyl while you both drink, the alcohol has had time to set in, it's been around four maybe five hours since you started drinking with her.</p><p>Despite the disgustingly high amount of pure alcohol in the gin, which ruins its taste for the most part, you're good at keeping a clear head.</p><p>Most of your conversation is mostly random, you jokingly flirt with each other a few times, you both find it funny.</p><p>You could get serious about it, you have permission from your actual partner, even encouragement it would seem, you doubt Ethyl would mind, you're not very interested.</p><p>You've both gotten comfortable, both of you having removed each ones footwear, you're both fully sitting on the couch rather than having your feet on the ground.</p><p>Ethyl seems to have hopes for more than simply getting comfortable, you've noticed her batting her eyelashes and playing with her hair.</p><p>You wouldn't mind getting a bit more personal but it's not close to your top priority as of now, though you feel tempted due to her trying, you believe she's earned it.</p><p>You're waiting for the perfect chance to make a move, you don't plan to get sexual with her yet, you plan on waiting for the special day they have planned.</p><p>Ethyl asks "What do you usually do to get her going?", she continues "You know, how do you turn her on?", you answer "It's a pretty long list of things.".</p><p>She says "Tell me a few of them.", you say "I usually start off by tickling her stomach.", you continue "After that I usually lift her up for a while.".</p><p>You finish "I usually finish by setting her down in the appropriate position for my intentions.", Ethyl looks at you and says "Doesn't sound very effective.".</p><p>You ask "Wanna bet on it?", she answers "I'll bite.", she asks "What are we betting on exactly?", you say "We're betting on this.".</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Well, I got some good news and I got some bad news.<br/>The good news is, I managed to fix my computer. The bad news is, that means more Underhive.<br/>Have fun, and yes, I am sorry.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You ask "Wanna bet on it?", she answers "I'll bite.", she asks "What are we betting on exactly?", you say "We're betting on this.".</p><p>Without a moments notice, you instantly lunge at Ethyl and begin tickling her stomach, she laughs while trying to speak, you don't have much interest in listening.</p><p>You tickle her for about ten seconds before lifting her up in the air, she laughs despite the lack of tickling, you can tell she enjoys this.</p><p>You lie down with your back resting on the armrest, you set Ethyl down on top of yourself, she's a bit heavier than Anna but you can manage it.</p><p>Ethyl says "Alright, fine, it's pretty good, it's definitely got me going.", she continues "I'll be getting comfortable here.", she finishes "You don't have a choice.".</p><p>She adjusts her position to be more comfortable, she's still seated on top of you, it does feel more comfortable after she's moved a bit.</p><p>You believe it's time to make your move, you fear Ethyl may become impatient, you begin staring into her eyes and ignoring everything she says.</p><p>You have to admit, her blue eyes are very pretty, you like looking into them, though they don't come close to Anna's green eyes, though it's refreshing to see a difference.</p><p>After a minute of staring into her eyes, Ethyl asks "You got something to say?", you answer "I do.", she replies "Well then, speak up, I'm waiting.".</p><p>You say "Your eyes are just.", you pause, you continue "I have no words, they're just so beautiful.", you finish "You're pretty beautiful, all of you.".</p><p>Ethyl moves closer to you to the point where your noses are almost touching, she blinks a few times while focusing her eyes at yours.</p><p>She's definitely picking up what you're putting down, you can tell she's been waiting for this, she's trying to hide her excitement as to not ruin the mood.</p><p>You stare into each other's eyes for a minute, Ethyl blinks in a very specific way, you understand what she's trying to indicate.</p><p>You begin talking very gently and slowly, you say "Ethyl." as to catch her attention, she replies by asking "Yes?", you answer by asking "May I kiss you?".</p><p>She answers "Please do.", you slowly move in closer to her, you close your eyes right before your lips touch hers, she does the same.</p><p>You can feel your lips lightly touching hers, you both press each other's lips with your own, you keep it up for a few seconds before pulling away.</p><p>You open your eyes to see Ethyl smiling, she says "Finally, that took way longer than it had to.", you reply "Can you please not ruin this.".</p><p>You place your right hand on her left cheek, you position your thumb next to her nose and move the rest of your fingers in the other direction.</p><p>You give her head a slight push in your direction and move your head towards hers, Ethyl complies, you close your eyes again, this time your kiss lasts longer.</p><p>Ethyl pulls away and says "Alright, yeah, you're pretty good at that.", you reply "We've barely just started.", she asks "What else you got?".</p><p>You place your left hand on her back and move your right hand on the back of her head, you force your body forward as to not be lying down anymore but rather sitting.</p><p>In a surprising move, Ethyl wraps her legs behind you and pulls herself closer, you force her head in the direction of yours and you begin kissing her again.</p><p>You like the way her lips feel against yours, Ethyl pulls away several times but you guide her head back towards yours.</p><p>On your last kiss in this position, you decide to you use your tongue, you do so without warning, though it seems to be well received by Ethyl.</p><p>She decides to use her tongue as well, you make out with her for a full minute, finally you pull away from each other.</p><p>You say "That was nice.", Ethyl replies "I liked that, I did very much like that.", she continues "I especially enjoyed the touching part.".</p><p>You reply "I feel like we're gonna be doing a lot more touching later on.", Ethyl says "Sounds like fun, can't wait.".</p><p>You say "Anyway, thank you, I really needed that.", she replies "Yeah, I needed that too, it's been a while since I've been with someone.".</p><p>You ask "When was the last time you were in a relationship?", she answers "About five maybe six months ago.", she continues "That's the longest in a few years.".</p><p>You ask "How often do you break up with someone?", she answers "We usually stay together for two or three months then realize it's not working out.".</p><p>She continues "It ends with us agreeing that we should move on, we usually stop talking after that.", she finishes "I find someone new in one or two months.".</p><p>You say "That seems a bit excessive.", she replies "It never really works out with anyone, it's not worth it to give it more time.".</p><p>She continues "Finding someone you genuinely want to commit to is difficult.", she finishes "I've been passively trying for like six years.".</p><p>You reply "Six years seems like a lot.", Ethyl says "It's not really my top priority, it's never been, it probably won't be for a good long while.".</p><p>You ask "Is this technically a date?", she answers "Maybe, my idea of a date doesn't usually have it starting with my date telling me they tried to knock up my sister.".</p><p>You say "Speaking of her, I do feel bad about this because those texts you showed me were a bit old, she may not have the same opinion anymore.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Come on, we already went over this, it'll be fine, she'll agree.", she continues "It's just harmless fun anyway.".</p><p>You decide to make another move, you place your right hand on her left cheek exactly how you did it last time, you don't kiss her this time though.</p><p>You say "Ethyl" as to get her attention, she replies by asking "Yeah?", you answer by asking "Have I told you how beautiful you are?".</p><p>You can see Ethyl smiling after you say that, she answers "No, I don't believe you have.", you reply "Ethyl, you are very, very beautiful.".</p><p>You move in to kiss her, she doesn't resist at all but rather complies with excitement, you spend a good ten seconds making out with her.</p><p>You pull away and say "You're beautiful even with all of your clothes on.", you can see Ethyl trying not to laugh before she talks.</p><p>She says "You know, I would let you take them off right now if you wanted to.", you reply "As tempting as that offer is, I'm going to have to decline unfortunately.".</p><p>You continue "While I am very much intrigued in seeing you without any clothing, I get the feeling we'll be doing that soon enough.".</p><p>You ask "Now, how about we get more comfortable?", Ethyl answers "Sure, do whatever you feel is most comfortable, even if it ends with you inside me.".</p><p>You get up and lift Ethyl up again, she laughs but tells you to be quick, you sit back down in a normal position, you set Ethyl down with her back facing you.</p><p>You do your best to lean back in this position, Ethyl sits on your lap while your arms wrap around her stomach to keep her in that position.</p><p>She moves her head to your right shoulder and leans her neck back as to have her head resting on your should, your cheeks are touching, it's comfortable.</p><p>Ethyl says "Yeah, this is pretty comfortable.", you reply "And now, I can do this.", you turn your head to be facing Ethyl's, you proceed to give her a light kiss.</p><p>The second time, you both turn to face each other, resulting in a better and longer kissing experience, you can hear Ethyl trying not to laugh at something.</p><p>She says "You do know I can feel you getting hard right now.", you reply by asking "What do you want me to do about it?".</p><p>You continue "Am I not supposed to be turned on when someone as attractive as you is sitting this close to me?", she answers "You're supposed to do more than that.".</p><p>You say "Well, as much as I'd like to be going in and out of you right now.", you continue "I'm holding off until that planned day.".</p><p>She says "The planned day is next week, no questions asked, just tell me when Anna's calmed down and I'll talk to her about it.".</p><p>You reply "Alright, I'll call you when she's in a better mood.", Ethyl looks at you and says "You had better not try to satisfy yourself until next week.".</p><p>She continues "I want you to have as much built up need as possible.", you reply "I can wait if you're definitely going to be here next week.".</p><p>She says "Oh trust me, I'll be here next week, I do not want to miss out on it.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Alright serious question.", she continues "What does honey taste like?", you reply by asking "Excuse you?".</p><p>She answers "I never thought to taste my own discharge.", you reply "Well, Anna's honey tastes pretty sweet, it also has a thick consistency.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "She just lets you taste it?", you answer "She doesn't seem to mind.", you continue "Usually she lets off a bit of honey while.", you cough.</p><p>You continue "While I practice a form of oral sex with her.", Ethyl replies "You can just say you eat her out.", you reply "I never said it out loud, it sounds weird.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Alright just, you can say whatever you want in front of me, I won't mind.", you're still not used to using certain phrases such as the aforementioned one.</p><p>You ask "Is this how you expected to be spending your time with your sisters partner?", she answers "Not what I expected when she told us she met someone.".</p><p>You give Ethyl a light kiss before saying "It's getting pretty late, you might want to leave before it gets too dark out.".</p><p>Ethyl laughs and says "I'm not leaving until certain demands are met.", you ask "What demands?", she answers "I want you to say that you love me.".</p><p>You say "You know I can't do that.", she asks "Why not?", you answer "Because it's a sin to tell a lie.", she replies "Well, guess I won't be leaving then.".</p><p>You ask "Are you sure you wanna do that?", she answers "As I said, not leaving until you say it.", you reply "Fine then, you won't be leaving tonight.".</p><p>You both laugh for a bit, you give Ethyl another light kiss before saying "Alright, that's enough.", she asks "What's wrong?".</p><p>You answer "I need easier access to your lips.", you grab Ethyl and lift her up very slightly before setting her back down, this time she's facing you.</p><p>She laughs and says "Alright then, you won't hear me complaining.", Ethyl looks at you and says "You're good at kissing but you could be better.".</p><p>You ask "How can I improve?", Ethyl answers "Your kisses are kind of dull, not lively enough.", she continues "Put some movement into it.".</p><p>You ask "Could you be more specific?", she answers "To start, move your hands while kissing, you know, move them up and down your partners back, their sides, anywhere.".</p><p>She continues "You should also try to move your head a bit, not too much, just enough to make a difference, you can move your entire body if you do it just enough.".</p><p>She finishes "And you don't have to pull away fully, just give a small amount of distance and move back in, it should be pretty easy, just stay close enough.".</p><p>You say "That all sounds very complicated.", Ethyl laughs and replies "That's why I'll be helping you practice it, trust me I know what I'm doing.".</p><p>She says "Alright, put one hand on my back like you did before.", you immediately place one hand on her back and one on the back of her head.</p><p>She says "For now, just move the one on my back, move it up and down slowly, gently, you can try to pull me closer while we kiss.".</p><p>You nod your head and you both move in to kiss each other, the moment your lips are touching hers, you begin moving the hand on her back.</p><p>You do your best to move it up and down, you follow her instructions to do it slowly and gently, you also attempt to pull her closer, it works slightly.</p><p>She pulls away and says "That was a good first attempt, just try to put all the force at once when pulling your partner closer, you'll also want to move yourself closer.".</p><p>She says "Alright, let's try again, don't try to rush anything, it lasts much longer than you feel like it would.", you both begin kissing again.</p><p>You follow her instructions, you put all the pulling force at once and push yourself closer to her, you decide to do something she didn't instruct.</p><p>You do your best to use her lips to guide her head to tilt upwards, it seems to work well enough, you stop kissing her lips and move down to kiss her neck.</p><p>You give her neck slow short kisses, she doesn't seem to mind, you can hear her giggling a bit with each time you kiss her neck.</p><p>You pull away and wait for her to talk, she says "Yeah, alright, that was good, I see what you tried to do at the end there.".</p><p>She says "Alright now, try again, but don't pull away that much, just to the point where our noses are touching, stay like that for a few seconds then move back in.".</p><p>She continues "And also, don't open your eyes if you plan to move back in quickly, only open them if you plan to pull away for like ten seconds.".</p><p>She finishes "Just give this one a quick first attempt.", you nod your head and within a moment, you're lips are locked to Ethyl's.</p><p>You first pull her closer while pushing yourself closer, you continue moving your hand along her back, after about fifteen seconds, you pull away slightly.</p><p>You keep your eyes closed while waiting about three seconds before moving back in, you do this for five seconds before pulling away fully.</p><p>Ethyl says "That wasn't too bad, first you're going to need to stop moving your hand once you pull away, start moving it again when you move back in.".</p><p>She continues "Also, use your other hand to move my head in your direction slight when you're about to move in, so that way I know to move in too.".</p><p>She finishes "And lastly, if you want your partner to open their eyes, you can wait a few more seconds and they'll do it, or move your thumb gently back and forth.".</p><p>She says "The thumb one is always awkward, you're better off just waiting for them.", she continues "Now, this time, use everything I just taught you.".</p><p>She finishes "Also, try to keep going as long as possible, I want at least two minutes this time.", you reply "I'll do my best.".</p><p>You slowly move in to kiss Ethyl again, despite having spent the past five minutes kissing her repeatedly, you haven't gotten tired of it.</p><p>You enjoy the feeling of your lips being in direct contact with hers, you keep kissing her for about twenty seconds before pulling away for the first time.</p><p>You wait for five seconds before slowly moving Ethyl's head in your direction, she picks up on it instantly and moves in while you do the same.</p><p>A moment later, your lips meet again, you do your best to keep going for another forty seconds before pulling away again, this lasts another five seconds.</p><p>You once again give her head a slight push in your direction, she again picks up on it and moves her head towards yours where they meet in the middle.</p><p>You again feel your lips touching hers, it's a nice feeling, it takes your mind off your problems even if temporarily.</p><p>This time you keep going for about thirty seconds, you eventually pull away, you wait for about seven seconds before opening your eyes, Ethyl opens hers after you.</p><p>You spend what feels like five maybe six seconds staring into her eyes, it's refreshing to see a different pair of eyes this close to you.</p><p>Ethyl's eyes are a similar color to yours, they're blue, but hers are brighter than yours, Anna's eyes are a slightly dark or dimmed green.</p><p>You move your hand slightly as to indicate to Ethyl that you're going in again, you both close your eyes before your lips meet again for the final time.</p><p>This time, you make sure you are as close to Ethyl as possible, this final kiss doesn't last that long, only a mere ten seconds before you pull away fully.</p><p>Ethyl says "That was really good, not sure how long it was.", you reply "Yeah, it was pretty nice.", she says "You're getting the hang of it.".</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Non-canonical sex scene</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>the african guy in the group chat said underhive 2 doesn't have enough sex so i wrote 1500 words of raw sex<br/>enjoy</p><p>This picks up right where Chapter 4 left off, though is non-canonical.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You say "We can do something better.", she asks "Like what?", you answer "Like this.", you quickly move in closer to her and begin slowly kissing her neck.</p><p>You continue kissing her while you make your way up to her lips, you can hear her giggle as you do this, it is highly probable that she did not expect this.</p><p>You finally pull yourself away for a moment, long enough for Ethyl to say "Alright, that was better.", you reply "We're not done yet.", she simply makes a questioning "Oh?".</p><p>You put both of your arms to her sides, you move them underneath her shirt and begin gently massaging her stomach before completely removing the shirt.</p><p>She asks "Is this what we're doing now?", you ask "Do you not like it?", she answers "No, I very much do.", she continues "I recall you saying you were against the idea.", you reply "I was, not anymore.".</p><p>You pull Ethyl back towards you, you begin kissing her neck again while simultaneously removing her bra, this for some reason makes her laugh, perhaps it's the absurdity of the situation.</p><p>You move back for a moment, with the sole purpose of visually appreciating her body, you'd imagined she'd look good, but it still is difficult not to be put in awe by it, it is quite the sight.</p><p>Your eyes focus on her breasts, which are above average size, you've never seen breasts of this size in the real world, but then again you've also never seen breasts besides Anna's.</p><p>Ethyl says "Come on, your turn.", you say "Huh?" before you have time to process what she meant, she asks "How are you so bad at this?", you answer "I don't know.".</p><p>You proceed to pull her body closer to yours, you can't help but notice how smooth her skin is, you also have difficulty comprehending the situation you're in, or even how you got here.</p><p>You begin kissing Ethyl again as you slowly remove her pants and underwear, you insert your finger in her vaginal opening while kissing her, this causes her to pull her head back, likely as a quick reaction.</p><p>She asks "Are we going to do it here?", you ask "Do you mind?", she answers "Not at all.", you can feel that Ethyl is somehow, irritated, by how slowly you're doing things.</p><p>She decides to "Take charge", she pushes you back on the armrest of the couch, she proceeds to quickly remove your pants and underwear, your slightly erected penis takes its freedom.</p><p>Ethyl grabs it by its base, her eyes are opened wider than they were before. It's visibly apparent that she didn't expect it to be of this size. She says "Well then.".</p><p>She begins slowly masturbating your penis, she giggles occasionally as she does it. You can't deny it, the feeling of her hands slowly masturbating your penis, is nice, to say the least.</p><p>The silence feels slightly awkward, though you don't have much time to think about it before Ethyl puts your penis in her mouth, the feeling of her saliva around your penis is exceptional.</p><p>You can feel your penis growing inside her mouth. She rubs her tongue around it while sucking it. The noises generated by this are, well, highly suggestive.</p><p>At random points, Ethyl forces her head towards the base of your penis, making it reach as deep as her throat. At first she takes it slowly, though eventually, she begins moving her head up and down quickly.</p><p>You are simply incapable of resisting, you promptly inform Ethyl that you are nearing climax, though you believe you spoke so quickly she couldn't hear it. You assume she got the hint once you moved your hand to the back of her head to push it towards the base of your penis.</p><p>Not a moment later, you begin releasing your cum in several bursts. You refuse to let go of her head until you've finished ejaculating, which does take a few seconds.</p><p>You eventually let go of her head, you can see her struggling to swallow the exorbitant amounts of your cum, she's aware of how unattractive it is to simply spit it out.</p><p>She takes a few quick deep breaths while saying "I wasn't sure I could get through all of that.", you reply "I knew you could.", you jokingly continue "What use would you be if you couldn't?".</p><p>Before she has time to reply, you get up and proceed to get hold of her body. The first thing you do is slowly kiss her breasts, she does seem to enjoy this. You begin using your tongue, more specifically licking her nipples, she appears to enjoy this even more.</p><p>You begin putting her nipples and part of her breasts inside your mouth, you assume her light moans are of pleasure, you can only hope this feels good for her.</p><p>You make your way down from her breasts until you reach her vaginal opening. You use your index and middle fingers to expand the opening, enough to easily be able to move your tongue in.</p><p>You can immediately feel her body repulse as your tongue makes contact with the interior of her vagina. It tastes like honey residue, though you care not much for the taste, as you're doing this for her pleasure.</p><p>Her moans aren't as light as they were before, they do turn you on, to a degree. You begin moving your tongue more sporadically, you believe this act is more pleasurable for her.</p><p>She uncontrollably releases an insignificant amount of honey, though it is enough for you to taste it. The taste is very sweet, and it is as thick as honey can be.</p><p>You pull away from between Ethyl's legs, you take a breath before simply asking "Ready?", she simply nods in approval. You, however, don't feel comfortable doing it this way.</p><p>You briefly lift her body and set it atop yours as you lean your back on the couch, this is significantly more comfortable. You grab your penis by its base and direct it to the inside of her vagina.</p><p>She breathes heavily as inch after inch goes inside her, eventually, your penis is entirely surrounded by the interior walls of her vagina. You're honestly surprised her vagina can fit the entire length of your penis.</p><p>You can feel her warmth surround your penis, you feel as if her vagina is somehow more expansive than Anna's. You'd almost forgotten how this felt, and you're glad you can experience it again. Saying it feels amazing would be a severe understatement.</p><p>You begin slowly sliding your penis out of her before thrusting it back in, she moans as you do this. Her moans increase in magnitude the faster you thrust in and out. You do your best not to moan, you wouldn't want to ruin the experience for her.</p><p>Setting the ecstasy aside, you can occasionally open your eyes long enough to be able to observe. You're aroused by the sight of her breasts bouncing up and down with each thrust you take.</p><p>You cannot begin to describe the raw pleasure you're experiencing, you can only hope you're giving Ethyl as much pleasure as you're receiving, but you can't be bothered to care.</p><p>The constant feeling of your penis grinding against the warm and wet inner walls of her vagina, is simply, as delightful as it is pleasurable. You couldn't care less about anything else at the very moment.</p><p>Though nothing can last forever, you begin thrusting with extreme speed and force as you inform Ethyl that you're nearing climax, though you doubt she can hear you over her own moans.</p><p>You pull her closer to yourself as you begin releasing unholy amounts of cum into her vagina, she grips onto your back as you do this, you can feel her nails digging into your back.</p><p>Your month's worth of built-up cum is entirely released into the inside of Ethyl's vagina, she moans in ecstasy as she also begins releasing her honey, you can feel it covering your penis.</p><p>A moment later, you pull your penis out of Ethyl, thick, glimmering gold, honey dripping from it. Likewise, your cum is also dripping from Ethyl's vaginal opening.</p><p>The both of you sit atop each other, trying to catch your breaths. You don't need to hear Ethyl say it, you know she's more than satisfied.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ight i got a bit to babble about here so just, idk, skip it if you're genuinely here for the bee smut, fucking weirdo.</p><p>right so, ever since the 13th of september, i've had to continue my education, normally this wouldn't pose an issue, but let me tell you, it's an issue alright.<br/>the first problem is that, despite being born in syria, and living my entire life here, i don't speak arabic all that well, and my entire education is in arabic.<br/>the second problem is that, this year of school is, as a 26 year old (i think) paul from michigan would say "Where the real game begins".</p><p>point being, i don't have much time for hobbies, and certainly not enough time for something as time consuming as writing. though i should have like at least 15k more words to post.</p><p>one final thing, i've also developed some pretty not fun symptoms, such as coughing, a fever, difficultly breathing, a headache, some fatigue.</p><p>normally, i'd chalk this up to me not being used to spending like 8 hours outside on a daily basis. but seeing as our ministry of education banned face masks in school, and i'm in a class of 40, in a school of several hundred. i don't think i need to spell out my concerns here.</p><p>you might not have come here for bee sans smut, but you sure as hell didn't come here to listen to some guy from syria talk about the inevitable disaster that is school, i won't hold you any longer, assuming you did read this far,</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You say "Doing it this way feels weird, I'm used to doing it normally with Anna, it's kind of our thing.", she replies "Well, this could be our thing then.".</p><p>You say "I wouldn't mind that, it'll be short-lived but that doesn't matter.", she asks "What do you mean short-lived?".</p><p>You answer "This isn't going to keep going after next week, that'd be too much, it shouldn't have even happened in the first place.".</p><p>Ethyl sighs and says "Yeah, I guess that's true, kind of a bummer if you ask me.", you reply "Don't worry about that now, we still have the entire night ahead of us.".</p><p>You continue "Though it is getting pretty late, I don't think you should stay here much longer.", she replies "You know the rules and so do I.".</p><p>You ask "You were serious about that?", she answers "I am serious about it, not leaving until you say it.", you reply "Still not saying it.", you both laugh slightly.</p><p>Ethyl says "So, tell me about your first date with Anna.", you say "It was pretty formal, I didn't know what I was doing and I doubt she knew what she was doing.".</p><p>You continue "We had a somewhat fancy meal, we talked for a while, and once we were finished, I didn't know what to do, it felt like it went well.".</p><p>Ethyl says "You really did not expect that to go well at all.", you say "I asked her if she wanted to come over for something, I don't quite remember what it was.".</p><p>You continue "The ride back home was awkward, I had to focus on the road and I didn't know what to say, I really thought I screwed it there.".</p><p>You finish "Fortunately, it went well enough, I invited her inside, broke out an old movie and some even older wine and we sat for a while.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Is this the interesting part?", you answer "Possibly.", you say "It didn't take her too long to see that I was getting, excited, down there.".</p><p>You continue "I couldn't control it, I had never been that close to someone who possibly had romantic interest in me, besides her looks always make that happen.".</p><p>You finish "I thought she would get mad at me and everything would just collapse, thankfully she didn't, in fact she did the exact opposite of what I expected.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "What did she do exactly?", she continues "Sounds like the exciting part of the story.", you answer "She unzipped my pants and just put it in her mouth.".</p><p>You say "I could only describe it as being sucked into a different universe, it felt amazing, it was my first time having that done to me and her first time doing it.".</p><p>You continue "I instinctively finished in her mouth, she didn't seem to mind, I was actually pretty surprised when she swallowed all of it, quite the sight.".</p><p>You finish "I don't remember if I did what I now usually do with her before we began having sex.", Ethyl asks "What do you usually do with her?".</p><p>You answer "After removing the clothes I usually begin kissing, biting, and even sucking her breasts for a bit, then move down to kiss her stomach, then move down again.".</p><p>She asks "What do you do down there?", you answer "I usually use my tongue, sometimes my fingers, occasionally give it small bites, until she releases a bit of honey.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "What do you do then?", you answer "I'd usually have gotten hard again by that point.", you continue "I'd slowly put my penis inside her.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Is that what you did after you came in her mouth?", you answer "The last part yes, not sure about the other parts.".</p><p>You say "I don't remember quite how we got to the bedroom, however we got there, what followed was simply great, we both lost our virginity, was fun.".</p><p>You continue "I was confused for a second when I woke up the next morning, it was the first time I'd ever woken up next to someone.".</p><p>You finish "When I looked at her, she looked so peaceful while she slept, I couldn't find it in me to wake her up, so I just got up to make us breakfast.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Keep going.", you say "I don't remember exactly what I made, might have been something as simple as eggs and bacon.".</p><p>You continue "Whatever it was, I made enough noise to wake her up, she entered the kitchen as to investigate the noise, I invited her to join me.".</p><p>You finish "Breakfast was really awkward, we barely said a word, eventually we both washed up and she told me she was ready to leave, and that she did.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Is that it?", you answer "Well, there's one more thing.", you say "A few hours later I was taking a bath to get my thoughts in order.".</p><p>You continue "Well, I spent a good chunk of time thinking about her, first it was fairly innocent, a few minutes later, not so innocent.".</p><p>You finish "I found myself masturbating to her, it was great at first, the clarity that followed wasn't so great.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Give me details about your first kiss.", you say "A day after what I just told you, I was leaving work when we ran into each other, it's to be expected.".</p><p>You continue "She invited me over for a cup of coffee, I could have never said no, even now, if she invited me for coffee right now, I'd immediately start running there.".</p><p>You finish "We had a quick cup of coffee, talked about some things regarding the days prior, and before I left we stood at the door for a moment.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Was it good?", you answer "It was great.", you say "We just stood there, staring into each others eyes, eventually we kissed, it was great.".</p><p>She asks "When did you really get things moving with her?", you answer "If I had to say, it would probably be the two weeks we stayed together.".</p><p>She says "You told me about them, very briefly.", you reply "They were the best time of my life at that time,they were just so good.".</p><p>You say "Every morning, I'd wake up, and the first thing I'd see would be Anna sleeping next to me, she always looked happy while she slept.".</p><p>You continue "It took some effort to resist the urge to kiss her in her sleep, especially because she's always stunning.".</p><p>You finish "We spent every day together, she was always by my side, I kept feeling like I wasn't doing enough for her but she denied it every time.".</p><p>Ethyl says "That must have been nice.", you reply "It was beyond nice.", you say "Every night, we would lay together in bed, and I'd tell her how much I love her.".</p><p>You continue "And she'd just hug me, she'd tell me how happy I made her, she'd keep telling me that she'd never been so happy before, and we'd fall asleep together.".</p><p>You finish "Now whenever I think of her, I just want to hold her, tell her everything is alright, make sure she's safe from anything.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Calm down, it's only been a day, she's fine, she can take care of herself for way longer than just one day.".</p><p>You reply "Yeah, I know, it's just hard not to want to be with her, especially after what happened, I just want her to be safe.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "So, when did you two decide it was final?", you ask "What do you mean?", she answers by asking "When did you decide that you both wanted to commit to it?".</p><p>You answer "A while ago, a good while after the two weeks, she invited me over to her house, she said there was something important we had to talk about.".</p><p>You say "We spent some time together, it was as fun as it always is, when it was around evening, she asked me if I wanted to commit.".</p><p>Ethyl says "Give me the details.", you say "It was quiet for a bit, she held my hand and asked if I wanted to stay with her, if I wanted to commit to her, make it final.".</p><p>You continue "She already knew the answer, she had to make sure though, I could see it, I've been there a lot, I imagine she has too.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "So, what'd you tell her?", you answer "Well, I kissed her hand and said I wanted nothing more than to be with her until the end of time.".</p><p>You continue "I could see how happy she was when she heard it, she immediately moved over to hug me, she does that a lot, it's her way of showing gratitude.".</p><p>You finish "It wasn't like I could ever say no to her, not when she asked that question, I knew I wanted to be with her, there was no ifs or buts about it.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "Did something change?", you answer "I feel like it did, it wasn't bad though, after that day, every time we were together, she was even happier.".</p><p>You say "She always looked forward to it, did her best to make it last as long as possible, she wanted to spend every minute together, and I did too.".</p><p>You continue "One day, she told me about it, she told me that she wanted to really make it final, she said she wanted to start a family, have kids, everything.".</p><p>You finish "We'd very briefly talked about it in the past, I'd thought about it a lot, I can only imagine how much she thought about it, she said she knew I did.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "How'd she know?", you answer "She never told me, but I do have some ideas as to why she might have known about it.".</p><p>You say "I've always been fond of her stomach, it's one of the parts I like most about her body, I'd occasionally tickle it, massage it too, kiss it, it was nice.".</p><p>You continue "We'd often lie down, and I'd put my hand on it, it'd get warm really quickly, it felt nice, but I also had a strange feeling whenever I looked at it.".</p><p>You finish "That feeling only grew after Anna told me that she wanted to have a child, I knew what it meant, I just didn't know what it was.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "What happened when you two tried to make said child?", you answer "Well, that was about a month ago, things changed even more, she was so excited about it.".</p><p>You say "We'd occasionally take walks in random parks, wrap our arms and hold hands, we'd talk about the future while we walked, we both liked it.".</p><p>You continue "For obvious reasons, we haven't had sex since that day, I was fine with that, I could wait as long as I had to, and I did wait.".</p><p>You finish "I would have waited even longer if it meant we would actually have our child, I can only imagine how happy she would've been.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "How excited was she?", you answer "Very excited, she'd often tell me how she wanted to hold it, how she wanted to raise it, what she'd name it.".</p><p>You continue "We didn't care what gender it was, really as long as it was ours, we were happy, she even thought about what she wanted its first words to be.".</p><p>You finish "Seeing her plan that much, seeing how excited she was, it made me happy that I could give that to her, even happier when I thought about what she'd give me.".</p><p>Ethyl asks "What would she had given you?", you answer "What else, she would have given me a child.", Ethyl replies "Yeah, makes sense, not sure what I was thinking.".</p><p>You say "Not only would she have spent six whole months carrying our child, she'd also spend the next almost twenty years raising it with me.".</p><p>You continue "Every single one of those days, we would have spent them looking after our child, looking after each other, that meant everything to me.".</p><p>You finish "Not only that she would give me a child, she would also be with me, that we would always be together, I could not have asked for anything more than that.".</p><p>Ethyl says "That sounds really nice, I can definitely see the appeal in that.", she continues "Let's move on, I don't wanna make you sad by talking about that.".</p><p>You nod your head, Ethyl asks "So, how submissive is Anna?", you answer by asking "What do you mean submissive?", she answers "Well, you know.", you reply "I don't know.".</p><p>She asks "When you ask her to get into certain, positions, in the purpose of initiating intercourse, does she comply easily?".</p><p>You answer "I never really tried, usually we either just find ourselves in the mood for it or she does it, I never asked her to do it.".</p><p>She says "You probably could get her to submit easily.", you ask "Why do you think that is?", she answers "I mean, if you told me to bend over, I wouldn't say no.".</p><p>She continues "I doubt that's only me, Anna probably wouldn't mind it if it wasn't too occasional, you know, everything in moderation.".</p><p>You look at Ethyl and jokingly ask "Well, why aren't you bent over right now?", she answers by jokingly asking "Do you want me to?".</p><p>You again jokingly ask "What if I do?", she answers "Well then.", surprisingly enough Ethyl moves to the side of the couch and rests her head on the arm rest.</p><p>She lifts her butt to have it directly in front of you, it's a different sight but you don't particularly mind, it slightly turns you on but not much.</p><p>She says "Go on then, do what you gotta do, really, do anything you want, I won't complain.", you reply "I didn't expect you to actually do it.".</p><p>She asks "Didn't I say I would do it if you told me to?", you answer "I mean, yeah, you did say that, I just didn't really think you were serious about it.".</p><p>She says "Well I was serious about it.", she continues by asking "Now, are you gonna do something with it or?", you answer "No, no, I'm good, you can sit normally.".</p><p>You say "I'm tempted to do something with it but I won't.", she replies "Too bad, guess we'll have to wait.", you can see her trying not to laugh.</p><p>You jokingly ask "Would you get down on your knees if I told you to?", she answers "I would, but I know you wouldn't do anything so I won't.", she continues "Not yet.".</p><p>You say "Again, very tempting, the prospect of you being on your knees is very, exciting, to say the least.", she replies "I'd do it, you wouldn't.".</p><p>You say "Believe me, I do want to, and as much as I'd like to do it now, I think we should just be patient for a week.".</p><p>She replies "Yeah, fine, all the teasing is getting to me.", you say "It's actually pretty late outside now, I don't think you should stay much longer.".</p><p>She says "You know what you have to do if you want me to leave.", you say "Alright, fine, I'll do it.", you sigh and continue "Come here.".</p><p>Ethyl turns around to be facing you, she looks at you expectantly, you begin looking into her eyes as you prepare yourself to say the words.</p><p>After a few seconds, you sigh and say "I can't do that, I just can't.", you continue "Those words mean a whole lot more than you give them credit for.".</p><p>Ethyl laughs and says "Well, guess what.", you ask "What?", she answers "I wasn't planning on leaving either way.".</p><p>She moves in to kiss you after saying that, you don't protest, this goes on for a solid five seconds, you say "Yeah, it's like you to do that.".</p><p>She replies "I'm just having fun, you have no idea how boring it is to have your main hobby be taking care of your parents after they retired a century early.".</p><p>You ask "Is it really a hobby if you don't enjoy it?", she answers "I enjoy looking after my parents every now and then.", she sighs.</p><p>She says "It's just that they have a lot of time ahead of them, like a lot of time, we're talking at least a hundred or so years, yet they chose to retire.".</p><p>She continues "They can make ends meet easily enough, but it's not just about working, they don't do anything, they spend their entire time at home.".</p><p>You ask "Do you ever try to get them to go out?", she answers "I try, we all try every so often, maybe except for Nolan.".</p><p>You ask "Does them staying at home all day annoy you?", she answers "Not really, they're adults, they can do whatever they want.".</p><p>She continues "It's just sad seeing them waste so much time, and even more so knowing they plan to spend the rest of their time like that.".</p><p>You ask "Is there a reason you stay with them?", she answers "I don't really stay with them, I just spend a lot of time visiting them when I'm not busy.".</p><p>She continues "I feel like I need to look after them even though they're perfectly fine on their own, they can easily manage everything themselves.".</p><p>She finishes "They don't mind, Dad would take any excuse to spend more time with his family, he says it makes him feel proud.".</p><p>She says "I've been meaning to ask.", she continues by asking "What's your problem with the use of certain, profanities?".</p><p>You answer "I'm not really used to it, I don't really have a problem with it, it's just off-putting.", she replies "It's just how I talk, I never saw any issue with it.".</p><p>You say "I don't really like this thing we have going on here.", she asks "What do you mean?", you answer "I don't know, just this, I don't like it.".</p><p>You continue "Especially the teasing, I feel like it genuinely lowers my opinion of you every time I think about it.".</p><p>You finish "I think it's just the over-sexualization you do to everything, it's not really my thing, feels kinda disgusting to some degree.".</p><p>Ethyl looks down at the floor, she sighs and says "Yeah, I think I get what you mean.", she looks at you and says "It'll change after next week.".</p><p>She continues "I just need to get it out of my system.", you ask "Would it really matter after next week?", she asks "What do you mean?".</p><p>You answer "I don't really plan on keeping this up after that, you probably shouldn't want to keep it up either.".</p><p>She asks "So, what happens after next week?", you answer "I was thinking we should just not get too personal with each other.".</p><p>She says "I guess we should do that.", you feel like you've slightly disappointed Ethyl, you decide you should try to rephrase what you said.</p><p>You start by putting your hand on her left cheek like you did before, she smiles and says "You always have something to say when you do this.".</p><p>You ask "Can you just not?", she answers "Alright, fine, I'll listen.", you look into her eyes before talking, you want her to know you mean what you say.</p><p>You begin talking, you say "Ethyl, I like you, I really do like you, if you haven't caught on yet, I genuinely like you.".</p><p>You continue "I had fun today, I know you did too, I thought nothing could get my mind off what happened, but you did it, thank you for that.".</p><p>You finish "I know you want to keep doing this, and trust me, I would too, but you know we can't do that, it'd be a waste of time.".</p><p>You can see Ethyl intently listening to everything you're saying, she doesn't look happy nor sad, but rather indifferent.</p><p>You say "I already have someone, you know that, and you know that you wouldn't do yourself any favors by keeping this up.".</p><p>You continue "You'll find someone, I'm sure of it, someone who can give you their full attention, someone who can actually love you.".</p><p>You finish "You have pretty much everything anyone could want in a partner, you have a great personality, you're funny, you're also very good looking.".</p><p>The look on Ethyl's face speaks of confusion yet somehow satisfaction, though you're still not done talking.</p><p>You say "You shouldn't waste your time on someone who can't give you their attention nonetheless someone who can't love you truly, you know that.".</p><p>You continue "You also know I can't do either of those things, you know I've dedicated myself to Anna, this can't be worth your time.".</p><p>You finish "We can still spend time with each other, I'd hate it if we couldn't, but we can't be together in any way.".</p><p>You finally say "That's fine, we shouldn't be together, but we can do that for a short period of time, so let's make the most out of it.".</p><p>Ethyl stays quiet for a minute, she sighs and says "You're right, I know that, I just don't know what I want to do.".</p><p>You say "Ethyl, I can't let myself allow you to waste your time on me, I can't do that to you, I can't do that to someone I actually care about.".</p><p>Ethyl takes your hand off her face and holds it with her hand, she says "Yeah, I know, I just need someone to be with for a short while right now.".</p><p>You slowly hug Ethyl and say "That's alright, I can do that, but please, for your sake, find someone you actually want to fill that special role in your life.".</p><p>She replies "I will, don't worry, I will.", Ethyl stays silent for a minute before laughing, she says "You talk like Mom used to when we were younger.".</p><p>She continues "She'd always tell us to be careful who we chose, to make sure we actually wanted to be with them, to not rush a decision.".</p><p>You both pull away from each other, you say "Hey, Ethyl, I've been meaning to ask.", you continue by asking "Why do you keep asking about me and Anna?".</p><p>She answers "No real reason, I find it kinda interesting.", she continues "Speaking of which.", she asks "Are you still planning on having kids?".</p><p>You answer "I want to, I imagine Anna still wants to, she'd probably want to wait a little while after what happened.".</p><p>She asks "When do you want to?", you answer "I'm not sure, I was thinking maybe a while after marriage.".</p><p>She asks "And when do you plan to get married?", you answer "I was thinking of proposing to her later this year.".</p><p>Ethyl says "There isn't that much left in this year.", you reply "I have an idea, it feels like it would work.".</p><p>You ask "Can I rely on you to help me when the time is right?", she answers "Of course, should be fun, besides, I don't want you to screw up the proposal.".</p><p>She continues "You'll have to let me in on it a few weeks before you actually do it.", you reply "There's still a few things I haven't figured out yet.".</p><p>She asks "Like what?", you answer "I still don't know how I'm gonna get her ring size.", she replies "Could be close to mine, or it could be different.".</p><p>She continues "I have an idea, it'll have to wait until next week.", you ask "What is it?", she answers "I'll find some way to make it so our hands are close.".</p><p>She continues "From there, we can eyeball it a bit.", she jokingly says "If that doesn't work, you can always suck her finger.".</p><p>You say "Yeah, no.", she says "Wait, that could actually work.", you reply "I'm not sucking her finger, that's just weird.".</p><p>She says "Not that specifically.", she continues "Okay, hear me out.", she finishes "It'll have something to do with next week, I'll figure it out.".</p><p>You reply "I have no doubt that you'll figure it out, I'm just concerned about the solution.", she replies "Don't worry about it, it'll be fine.".</p><p>She says "Trust me, you'll be engaged before the year's out.", you reply "I hope so.", you continue "I feel like things are moving too quickly.".</p><p>She says "Maybe, there's bees out there that have been in a relationship for the better part of decades and haven't decided on marriage yet.".</p><p>She continues "A lot of bees say it's rather disappointing, not as good as it sounds, that kind of thing, never tried myself so I can't confirm nor deny.".</p><p>You say "I feel like you should be looking for something serious rather than wasting your time with us.".</p><p>She sighs and says "Yeah, I know, it's just that I've been looking for a good while and haven't found someone I actually want to spend an indefinite amount of time with.".</p><p>She continues "I'm tired of looking, for now, I just wanna mess around for a while, not have to worry too much about the consequences.".</p><p>She finishes "I still have a lot of time ahead of me, it's just exhausting to keep finding someone then not having it work after months of being together.".</p><p>You say "That must be rough.", she replies "It is, eventually you feel like you're not getting anywhere with it, feels like wasting time.".</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>alright, alright, yeah, i'm late, i do apologize.</p><p>also im no longer gonna be formal in the chapter notes i can't be bothered.</p><p>ok so, i haven't been posting because i kinda maybe somewhat have a social life to maintain alongside education. that and i've become severely addicted to stardew valley again.<br/>and it took a few days to get manjaro properly running as well as removing any trace of windows 10.</p><p>no more windows 10, society has progressed past the need for bad software.</p><p>also technically, you were supposed to get a special non canonical 69 sex scene on friday because one discord server i moderate hit 6669 members but uh, i got lazy and decided to spend time with friends instead.</p><p>basically ill try to stay on schedule but no promises.</p><p>i don't know if anyone even reads these chapter notes besides cyg.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You ask "What's the closest you've been to a very long-term commitment?", she answers "There was one guy, it worked out for almost a year.".</p><p>She continues "But after that, it just went cold, he kept trying his best to get it to work out but it just didn't happen, he was pretty sad when we broke up.".</p><p>She finishes "I bump into him every once in a while, we have casual chatter, it looks like he's moved on but he looks somewhat disappointed when he sees me with someone.".</p><p>You ask "How sad was he?", she answers "Not too sad, but it was visible, I remember one of our friends telling me he'd spent a day without eating after we broke up.".</p><p>She continues "He still seems somewhat upset about it today, though he did meet someone else and it seems to actually be working out for them.".</p><p>She finishes "Not sure why he'd still be sad about it after all that time, it wasn't really anything special.".</p><p>You ask "Did he see something in you that he doesn't see in anyone else?", she answers "I don't think so, at least he never said anything like that.".</p><p>She says "Enough about that.", she asks "So, you planning for Anna and yourself to move in together?".</p><p>You answer "I am, not sure when.", she asks "You sure you both will be able to tolerate it?", you answer "Yeah, we already kinda did move in together for a while.".</p><p>She says "I'm pretty sure you told me about that a while ago.", you reply "I did, I think we talked about it earlier today.".</p><p>She replies "I'm having a hard time remembering anything, my memory gets foggy if I stay up too long.".</p><p>You say "Speaking of which.", you ask "When are you planning on sleeping tonight?", she answers "At any time, doesn't really matter.".</p><p>You say "Just gonna make this clear right now, there should be at least ten centimeters distance between us on the bed, preferably more.".</p><p>You continue "If that can't be done, one of us is taking the couch.", she laughs and says "You do realize we'll be at least twenty centimeters inside each other next week.".</p><p>You reply "Yeah, that's next week, not today.", she says "Come on, don't be like that.", you reply "You're the one who insisted on staying here tonight.".</p><p>She says "Fair enough.", she continues "Alright, I'll take the couch then.", she finishes "I've accidentally fallen asleep on a couch one too many times already.".</p><p>You ask "You don't actually mind it, do you?", she answers "Not really.", you say "I'm still not very warm to the idea of you staying the night here.".</p><p>She says "Jokes aside, I'll leave if you actually want me to.", you reply "No, it's fine.", you jokingly say "You had better not touch anything while I sleep.".</p><p>She replies "Yeah, I won't.", she continues "Your secret stash will still be right where you left it, don't you worry.", you both laugh at that.</p><p>You ask "Should we talk for a bit more time?", she answers "Sure.", she asks "So, were you prepared to help Anna through six months of pregnancy?".</p><p>You answer "I think so.", she asks "You still prepared for that?", you answer "Yeah, we'll manage it, I'm just concerned about leaving her alone for half a dozen hours.".</p><p>You continue "She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, I'm just afraid she'll need something that she wouldn't be able to do by herself during that time.".</p><p>She asks "Are you actually financially capable of having a family?", you answer "I've thought about it for a while, it should be possible.".</p><p>She says "You don't sound very confident.", you reply "I am by no means very confident.", you continue "I think I can make it work if given a year or so.".</p><p>She asks "How do you plan to do that?", you answer "I doubt Anna would be able to work given the assume circumstances so that would make things tighter.".</p><p>You continue "I have a few friends whom I may be able to work something out with, it'll take a lot of work and time but it'd work.".</p><p>You finish "We've talked about it, not all of us at once, but they seem onboard with it, if it works I'd easily be able to support a family.".</p><p>She replies "Sounds promising, if you were to ask me, I'd say you shouldn't try for another child before having that done, even if you can support it.".</p><p>You say "I'll have to ask Anna about it.", she asks "When do you plan to talk to her?", you answer "I don't know, whenever it happens I guess.".</p><p>You continue "I don't wanna just talk to her, I think I should wait until she wants to talk, from what she told, she doesn't feel like talking to me right now.".</p><p>She asks "What makes you think it's only you she doesn't want to talk to?", you answer "Nothing, but she's probably had to talk to someone about something different.".</p><p>She asks "So, are you just gonna talk to her at work or something?", you answer "That doesn't sound very professional, maybe I'll text her before we leave.".</p><p>She replies "Could work.", she asks "What would you tell her?", you answer "I'd ask if she wanted to meetup somewhere to talk about things between us.".</p><p>You say "I still don't understand why she's so upset about it all, not like we couldn't try again in a few months anyway.".</p><p>She says "Sounds like you both had your hopes way too high up, seeing all that was probably hard on her, maybe she just didn't realize it at the time.".</p><p>She continues "I'd like to help more but I've never been there.", she finishes "I don't recall ever seeing her so upset to the point where she refused to talk to anyone.".</p><p>You say "I wish we'd be able to just forget that ever happened.", you continue "It really did hurt to see her like that, even more so knowing I couldn't help.".</p><p>Ethyl looks sympathetic, she sighs and says "She'll be alright, don't worry, she's a grown adult, she can take care of herself.".</p><p>You reply "Yeah, I know, it's just hard not to worry, still feel like I could've done more for her, or should have done more.".</p><p>You say "I think I'm ready to sleep for the night.", Ethyl asks "You sure?", you answer "Yeah, I think that's for the best.".</p><p>You ask "How many blankets do you use?", she answers "It's fine, it's just one night.", you reply "It's not fine, it'll get pretty cold.".</p><p>You say "Give me a minute.", you quickly run over to your closet, you open the middle door and take out a pillow and blanket which you rarely ever have to use.</p><p>You move back to the living room and place them on the couch, Ethyl says "Well then, thank you.", you ask "Is there anything you need before I go?".</p><p>She answers "One last thing.", she moves closer to you, she looks into your eyes for a moment before beginning to kiss you on the lips.</p><p>She pulls away and says "Just that.", you reply "Alright then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow.", she replies by somewhat jokingly saying "Goodnight.".</p><p>You slowly walk to the bedroom, you've rarely ever had someone sleep in your house, except for Anna that is, it feels weird but you think you can trust Ethyl.</p><p>You're not sure what she would even do if she wanted to cause harm, or why she would, you can't help your trust issues.</p><p>You have some trouble falling asleep, but you manage to, eventually, it takes significantly longer than it usually does, you couldn't help your trust issues.</p><p>You get up in the morning, as if you'd never slept, as if you'd just closed your eyes, you stay in bed for a few minutes before getting up, you wash up fairly quickly.</p><p>You slowly walk to the living room, Ethyl seems to still be asleep, you have no idea how she manages to sleep comfortably on a couch but you've done it before.</p><p>You walk up to the couch to confirm that Ethyl is in fact still sleeping, you're line of thinking suggests that you should probably wake her up.</p><p>You slowly start waking her up, you're used to slowly waking up Anna, but then again, you're significantly more comfortable towards and around Anna.</p><p>From what you've gathered, Ethyl is a heavy sleeper, and does not like to get up at all, which is somewhat understandable.</p><p>You watch as Ethyl slowly wakes up, first loudly yawning before opening her eyes, she stays silent for a moment before saying "You're quite the sight to wake up to.".</p><p>You've never felt flattered by compliments from Ethyl, you don't know why that is, you never feel any sort of warmth between you and her, you believe it's better that way.</p><p>You like Ethyl, but not in that way, you don't see yourself ever liking her in that way, as a matter of fact you don't really like her idea for next week.</p><p>You're only agreeing to it because she desperately wants to, maybe not desperately, but it's easy to tell she wants to do it, with both yourself and Anna.</p><p>It's weird, and unethical, highly unethical, you wouldn't be surprised if you decided to cancel out later this week, but it could be worse.</p><p>There's definitely weirder things out there, that doesn't mean that it isn't weird but it just comes down to no harm done, which is likely applied to this.</p><p>You can see some harm being done from this but from the details you've been given, it seems unlikely, you can only hope that this is as weird as it'll ever get.</p><p>Though you have to admit, it'll certainly be interesting, pleasurable maybe, you've never really cared for vices such as sex, it's satisfying but you can live without it.</p><p>You have difficulty being warm towards Ethyl, she has everything anyone would want in a partner, looks, personality, and even more, but you just can't be warm to her.</p><p>You feel as if it's not possible for you to consider her more than a friend, which you believe is good, you're already committed to Anna, it's better that way.</p><p>There's nothing inherently bad with Ethyl, in fact it seems like it would be really easy to spend time with her in more than one way.</p><p>You reply "Don't get used to it.", she replies "Yeah, alright.", she yawns again before moving from a lying position to one of sitting.</p><p>She says "I suppose I should get going now.", you reply by asking "Are you sure you don't wanna eat something before you leave?".</p><p>She answers "No, it's fine, I just need a minute.", she moves to one side of the couch and pats the empty sitting space next to her, indicating for you to sit down.</p><p>You comply, she asks "How did you like yesterday?", you answer "It was nice.", she replies by asking "Just that?", you ask "What else do you want?".</p><p>Ethyl sighs and says "I don't know, I just expected a difference response.", you ask "Does your back hurt yet?", she answers "Not really.".</p><p>You can see that Ethyl seems disappointed to some degree, like she'd expected something more, like she'd expected you to act differently.</p><p>You know how she wants you to act, you have no such interests, even thinking back to what you'd done yesterday, it disgusts you to some degree.</p><p>Now thinking back to it, you'd do things differently, but that's not how it works, what's done is done, now you can only make amends.</p><p>You feel a sense of shame in what you did, while you did have permission from Anna, you still regret what you've done, you do wish you could undo such actions.</p><p>You continue to make small-talk with Ethyl as she fully wakes up, you stop once to check your phone in-case you'd missed anything important.</p><p>Much to your surprise, you find that you've received a text from Anna, fairly late at night too, you put everything off, your top priority is seeing the message.</p><p>You feel bad for not answering it the moment it arrived, but you know you weren't staying up that late, which makes you wonder as to why she stayed up so late.</p><p>Nevertheless, you open it, you can make out an image in the border of your vision, but you focus on the small bit of text above it.</p><p>Rather than it being one message, it's split into several messages, very different from how Anna usually sends messages.</p><p>The first message reads "I've been looking at this one picture a lot recently.", she followed it up with "It makes me feel a certain way, you know.".</p><p>She continued "It makes me feel better.", she finished "We need to take pictures together more often.", your eyes shift to the image below.</p><p>It's a picture you took together a good while ago, the first one you took together, you remember that James had asked to see a picture of you and Anna together.</p><p>You still find humor in the touch Anna added by kissing you on the cheek right as the shot was taken, right as the timer had hit zero.</p><p>You look at the picture for a moment, you understand what Anna meant when she said looking at it made her feel better, you feel somewhat warm when looking at it.</p><p>But then, you feel bad, you turn your eyes to look at Ethyl, who's still in the progress of fully waking up, you know why you feel bad.</p><p>You promptly move to the opposite side of the couch, putting as much space between you and Ethyl as is possible, she looks at you, slightly confused.</p><p>She asks "Something wrong?", you answer "No, it's just", you pause before saying "We need to talk.", she asks "What about?".</p><p>You sigh and begin talking, you say "Listen, Ethyl, about yesterday, it was fun at the time, but now, it feels really terrible when I think about it.".</p><p>You continue "Sure, we didn't do anything inherently bad, but it still feels awful, you should very well be able to understand why.".</p><p>You finish "When I said I liked you, you knew which way I meant it, you know that I'll never be able to like you in the way you want.".</p><p>She stays silent for a moment, she says "Yeah, I know.", you reply "You know that I could never hold such emotions for you nor anyone else.".</p><p>You say "You know I already hold those emotions for someone, and you also know that I'll always just be cold, even blunt, when talking to you about such things.".</p><p>You continue "You also know it's not personal, you know I actually like you as a friend, just as a friend.".</p><p>You finish "Listen, I don't wanna be rude to you, but I have to be honest, and if I'm being honest, I can barely even look at you without feeling shameful.".</p><p>Ethyl once again remains silent, possibly processing what you've just said, the words sound harsh, cold, but it's the truth, she knows it.</p><p>She sighs and says "I get it.", you ask "Do you?", she answers "I do.", she looks disappointed, but also looks as if she's made a mistake.</p><p>She says "You're right, this was a mistake.", you stay silent for a minute before asking "What now?", she answers "I should really get going.".</p><p>You both get up, you slowly walk Ethyl to the door, once you arrive, you're unsure of what to say, you can imagine Ethyl is also experiencing the same thing.</p><p>Cold as it is, after a short exchange of looks and nods between you and Ethyl, she simply leaves, neither of you having said a word.</p><p>You walk back to the couch and sit down, you take out your phone in a search of something to kill the time, you find nothing of the sort.</p><p>You suddenly remember that you have yet to respond to Anna's messages, you take a minute, thinking of what to send.</p><p>You reply "We do need more of these, and we'll take more of them, won't we?", you take a deep breath and send the message.</p><p>You don't know when to be expecting a response, you simply lay your phone down and think of ways to spend the day.</p><p>Going out is a last resort, staying at home is preferable but limits your options, you start thinking back to the few weeks prior.</p><p>Life was so simple back then, you always found a way to pass the time, no matter what you did, Anna was by your side, you miss such times.</p><p>Despite it only having been a few days since you've seen Anna, you miss her, it's been a while since you've spent that long without her.</p><p>You decide to be productive, your house is relatively clean, but it could always use a thorough cleaning.</p><p>You get off the couch and begin seeking every little problem you can find, you don't find that much, but it's enough.</p><p>You clean about anywhere you can think of, under the bed, under the couch, behind the closet, moving large objects around is difficult but not impossible.</p><p>It takes a few hours, between vacuuming up crumbs, dusting everything, and throwing out the garbage, it's exhausting.</p><p>You pace around the house, admiring your work, very little of it is apparent, most of it is issues you wouldn't find if you didn't search for them.</p><p>You're tired from all the work, though you can barely remember any of it, you feel as if it went by rather quickly, quite contrary to reality.</p><p>You've killed some time, but the day is far from done, you think of how to pass the time again, and you reach one conclusion.</p><p>You feel dirty after cleaning for that long, and you're tired, the optimal solution would be a bath, a shower would do but a bath is significantly more relaxing.</p><p>You walk to the bathtub and plug the drain, you place your hand under the running water to make sure it's just the right temperature.</p><p>You slowly undress yourself, giving the bathtub enough time to fill up, you stop the water and ever so slowly enter the bathtub.</p><p>The feeling of your feet being engulfed in warm water is beyond satisfying, it only gets better as the rest of your lower body goes in as well.</p><p>You lie down in the bathtub, your neck uncomfortably resting on the edge, you enjoy this feeling, you could almost fall asleep here.</p><p>You don't clean yourself very much, you mostly relax in the warmth of the water surrounding the majority of your body.</p><p>You start thinking, mostly about Anna, you still don't get why she was so upset about it, questioning it feels redundant, you'll never find the answer.</p><p>Even the words she spoke made little to no sense, or what you understood of them didn't, a large quantity of them was unintelligible.</p><p>She talked as if it was her fault, as if it was a major problem, as if she didn't meet expectations, fully well knowing none of those are true.</p><p>One thought keeps pinching the back of your mind, you're afraid that Anna might want to break up with you after what happened.</p><p>You don't know why she would, she never said anything of the sort, but you can't shake the thought, you don't know what you would do at that point.</p><p>You genuinely lack the ability to imagine your life without her, you know you'd be devastated, if she does chooses to break up with you, there's nothing you could do.</p><p>You're hoping she doesn't, you doubt she will, but you're still worried about it, somewhere in the back of your head.</p><p>You make it a note to never think about that again if at all possible, you try to follow a more positive train of thought.</p><p>You remember that there's a chance you'll see Anna tomorrow, you won't intentionally look for her, but you might bump into each other.</p><p>You want to know if she's alright, if she'd kept herself safe, but you can't just ask, you can only hope that you'll see her tomorrow.</p><p>You wonder what she's thinking about right now, you wonder how much she'd thought of you, you wonder how she'd spent her time.</p><p>You always feel a certain way when thinking about Anna, you can't pinpoint the feeling, you couldn't even begin to break it down if you tried.</p><p>You decide to do something questionable, you decide to take a short nap in the bathtub, you've done it before, several times, it feels nice.</p><p>You know you won't slide in deeper and drown but it's hard not to think about it, you know you'd immediately wake up if you did so happen to go underwater.</p><p>You slowly close your eyes, focusing solely on how comfortable you feel, focusing on the warmth and depth of the water around you.</p><p>And for the briefest of moments, your mind is completely clear, no worries, no rushes, no thoughts, no feelings, simply quiet, peace of mind.</p><p>Your nap goes by quicker than you thought it would, looking around the room reveals little to no visual difference though the water is noticeably colder.</p><p>You always find doing this strange, you've barely heard of anyone ever doing it though it is hard to imagine that no one else does it.</p><p>Deciding that you'd already spent more than enough time here, you slowly exit the bathtub and wrap your lower body in a towel.</p><p>You unplug the drain and observe for a moment as the water slowly descends into the drain, you have little clue as to why you watched it.</p><p>You begin drying yourself off, you promptly get dressed, you feel refreshed, even a bit relaxed, overall it was a worthwhile experience.</p><p>You quickly check the time, you'd burned through another hour or so, you find yourself once again regretting not having any hobbies.</p><p>You'd tried several things but nothing felt natural, everything you tried felt like it had to be forced out, quite the opposite of a hobby.</p><p>You sit down on your bed for a minute, pondering what to do next, there's still an hour or two until dusk, nonetheless evening or night.</p><p>Your only source of entertainment now is the internet, this situation is to say, rather unfortunate, but it is what it is.</p><p>You decide to make something quick to eat, you get up off the bed and walk to the kitchen, you open the fridge in search of something to eat.</p><p>With the limited number of ingredients, you decide on something that has a sort of smokey flavour to it, a grilled spam and cheese sandwich.</p><p>A meal seen by many as horrific, undesirable, barely edible, though you don't see it as any of those things, it is a simple solution to a primitive problem.</p><p>You make sure to evenly spread the cheese across the bread as well as evenly distributing the cut pieces of spam.</p><p>You begin to do what you could only describe as grilling the sandwich, a delicate process, quite simple in imagination.</p><p>And alas, you finally posses a quick meal, the enter process taking no longer than five minutes in total, you promptly place the sandwich on a plate.</p><p>You decide to eat the sandwich on the couch as to avoid any possibility of there being crumbs on your bed, you place the plate on the table before grabbing your phone.</p><p>You once again find yourself refusing to eat until you find the perfect video to watch, an exhausting endeavour but quite rewarding.</p><p>For the next ten or so minutes, you simply sit on your couch, slowly taking bites out of your sandwich while watching the video on your phone, quite luxurious.</p><p>A notification happens to interrupt your session of eating and entertainment, your muscle memory immediately reacts, checking the notification and preparing to remove it.</p><p>You stop yourself just a split second away from removing the notification, you glance at the notification again to confirm that what you saw was correct.</p><p>You confirm that it is indeed a message from Anna, without any hesitation, you instantly tap the notification which opens up the app.</p><p>You see that she'd replied to your previous message, this time she sent a single message instead of several, she sent "Yeah, we will, soon enough.".</p><p>You think for a minute, unsure of what to reply, or if you even should reply, you feel like you're at a complete loss.</p><p>Several times your fingers approach the virtual keyboard as you attempt to type out a response, several times you begin writing just to delete it immediately afterwards.</p><p>You could only imagine what he must be thinking as she sees your status change several times to and from that of typing.</p><p>You finally decide on a simple reply, you ask "How soon?", you hesitate for a moment before sending the message, you wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't reply.</p><p>You feel a glimmer of hope as her status changes to that of typing, you patiently wait, carefully observing every little change, you can see she's also hesitant.</p><p>She finally replies "Whenever we're ready.", you don't quite get what she means by it, not in a literal sense, but you feel as if you understand it.</p><p>You decide to stop sugarcoating your conversation, you know what you want to say, you know what you want her to see, you decide to just say it.</p><p>You slowly type out "Hey Anna, I've been meaning to apologize.", you take a deep breath before sending the message, you once again patiently wait.</p><p>It doesn't take her as long to reply this time, she sends a message asking "What for?", you take a moment before beginning to type out a reply.</p><p>You reply "For leaving you, for not checking up on you, for not being with you.", for reasons beyond your comprehension, typing that out was tough to an extent.</p><p>You wait for her to reply, you get the feeling she won't, but she's never just left a conversation after reading a message.</p><p>Your worries are put to a rest as you see her status change again to that of typing, this time it takes her significantly less time to reply.</p><p>She sends "It's fine.", before you have time to reply, she sends "I didn't feel like spending time with anyone the past few days.".</p><p>You reply "Is it alright if I ask you something about it?", she quickly replies "About what?", you answer "About what happened a couple days ago.".</p><p>It takes her a good fifteen seconds to reply "Sure, I guess.", you can tell she's not enthusiastic about it.</p><p>First you ask "Are you still upset?", a while later she answers "I'm not as upset, but still.", the answer feels incomplete, you believe she didn't know how to put it.</p><p>You then send "It feels redundant to ask but.", you follow it up with "Why were you so sad about it?", a full minute goes by before she answers.</p><p>She sends "Believe me when I tell you, I don't know.", she then sends "It just overwhelmed me, we planned so much, we did a lot of preparing.".</p><p>She continues "We were excited, just the thinking about how we were about to start a family made me happy, I can imagine it made you happy as well.".</p><p>She continues "I saw how much you wanted it to happen, and you know how much I wanted it to happen, it was just so great.".</p><p>She continues "I knew I'd get pretty upset if something were to happen, and I knew we could always try again whenever we wanted to.".</p><p>She finishes "When we found out it didn't work, everything just came at me at once, especially with how much I'd wanted it, how much you wanted it.".</p><p>You ponder for a moment, trying to process everything you've just been told, it's certainly something to take in.</p><p>You have difficulty trying to find the words, eventually you reply "I don't know if you need to know this, but, I don't blame you for it.".</p><p>She replies by asking "For what?", you answer "For it not working.", she doesn't reply after a minute, you decide to send another message.</p><p>You send "I know that I want you to know that I'm sorry.", a few seconds later she replies "You don't have to be.".</p><p>You send "You know, I've been really worried about you these past couple of days, but I never found it in me to even ask how you were doing.".</p><p>You continue "I've thought about just knocking on your door, but I don't know what I would have even said if I did it.".</p><p>You continue "I've thought about calling you, but I never did, because I knew I would never be prepared for the moment when you would pick up the phone.".</p><p>You finish "I know it's only been a couple of days, but it was enough for me to realize how true it was when I'd tell you that I couldn't go on without you.".</p><p>Another twenty seconds goes by before she replies, she sends "I don't know what to say anymore.", you reply "That's alright.".</p><p>She sends a message asking "How about you, how have you been?", you answer "I'm fine, much better now that I'm talking to you.".</p><p>Before she replies, you begin typing again, you send "Hey Anna, I know it feels redundant to say this.", you close your eyes for a moment and begin typing.</p><p>You send "I love you, and I can only hope you still share that feeling with me.", a few moments later, she replies with a simple yet heartfelt "I do.".</p><p>You reply "You can't begin to imagine how happy that makes me.", she sends a message asking "Were you afraid?", you answer "Yes, yes I was, I was afraid you didn't.".</p><p>You continue "I regret not being there with you.", you continue "I regret not checking up on you.", you finish "And I regret not being there for you.".</p><p>Another minute goes by without any reply from Anna, you begin to lose hope of her replying to your messages though you still wait.</p><p>Twenty seconds later, you see that Anna has begun typing, you patiently wait for her to reply, a few seconds later, she sends "I didn't want you to be there with me.".</p><p>She then sends "I saw how you looked when you left.", she continues "I saw how you felt, I knew how worried you were.", she continues "I didn't want you to worry.".</p><p>She finishes "I can take care of myself, you know that, there was no need for you to keep worrying about me.", you take your time reading the messages.</p><p>It's not about what words she used, it's about the meaning behind them, a word without a meaning is like a warrior without a fight, devoid of purpose.</p><p>You finally reply "It's hard not to.", you continue "You know I wouldn't forgive myself if I let something happen to you.".</p><p>She replies "As bad as it sounds, I know you wouldn't.", she continues "Some of the stuff you say, I don't know how you come up with it.".</p><p>She continues "I can't even come up with something similar.", she finishes "It always sounds romantic, and most importantly it's always true.".</p><p>You reply "It feels natural when I say it.", she replies "I never know how to reply to it.", she continues "Normally, I'd just wrap my arms around you.".</p><p>You ask "Do you want to do that now?", she answers "I do.", she continues "I don't think it would work too well over text.", you reply "It doesn't have to be over text.".</p><p>She replies "I wish it didn't have to be.", you ask "What do you mean?", she answers "I don't know how to explain it.".</p><p>She continues "I just don't feel like seeing anyone right now.", she finishes "I know I keep saying that every time, I really hope you can understand.".</p><p>You can't help but feel bad for her, you reply "I understand.", she replies "I knew you would.", you ask "Anna, do you forgive me?".</p><p>She answers "You already know I do.", you reply "That makes me feel better.", she asks "Did you actually think I wouldn't want us to be together after what happened?".</p><p>You answer "I knew you wouldn't want to end it, but I was afraid you would.", you continue "I couldn't really shake the thought.".</p><p>You finish "I realized just how much I really meant it when I told you I don't know what I would do without you.", a few seconds go by before she replies.</p><p>She replies "Again, sounds bad, but I know you meant it.", around thirty seconds pass without any messages from either of you.</p><p>Eventually, Anna asks "Do I do enough for you?", you answer "More than enough.", you continue "I could ask you the same thing.", she replies "You'd get the same answer.".</p><p>She asks "Is this a good place to leave off?", you answer "Yeah, I think it is.", you continue "It was nice to finally get to talk to you.".</p><p>She replies "I know, talking to you was nice.", you ask "Can we do this again tomorrow?", she answers "Of course.", you reply "That makes me feel better.".</p><p>She replies "It makes me feel better too.", she continues "I think I'm ready to go to bed for the night, goodnight.", you reply with a simple "Goodnight.".</p><p>You press the button on the side of your phone, promptly locking it, you're satisfied with the outcome, you really do feel better after talking to Anna.</p><p>You also feel relieved now that you know she doesn't want to break up with you, you doubted she would but now you can finally shake that thought.</p><p>Feeling content with the events of today, you slowly walk to your bed, you can hear every step you take, the only noise, silence claims the empty house.</p><p>You get undressed, leaving only underwear, you lie down in your bed and pull the sheets up to above your shoulders, you wish Anna was here with you.</p><p>You turn to face the ceiling, there isn't much for you to think about, you ponder what Anna told you earlier, you still feel bad for her.</p><p>You slowly begin to realize how unprepared you were, you realize that it would have been really difficult to raise a child with Anna.</p><p>It would have definitely been possible but would have also been largely difficult, you already knew it wouldn't be easy, you already knew all this.</p><p>You've already done this before, thought about these exact same things, but it feels different now, you feel like you're perceiving them differently.</p><p>You feel somewhat stupid, even ignorant, you've already gone over these things, but up until now, you've never thought of them like this.</p><p>You take a deep breath, you know you can't try again if things keep being the way they are, you've had a plan for some time.</p><p>You've always had a special talent, connecting the right bees with each other, with the intent of mutual benefit, you plan to fall back on that talent.</p><p>You've thrown the idea around your head a bit, you've never participated in something of the sort, nonetheless started it, but it would work.</p><p>It's not the most lucrative business idea in existence, but it would be more than enough to support a family, it would be able to support at least a family of four.</p><p>Sure, it wouldn't be the most luxurious lifestyle, but it would definitely be enough to live comfortably, it would certainly take a lot of time.</p><p>You're not worried about that part, if it's one thing you have, it's time, you know the exact two bees that'll be able to make it happen.</p><p>You'd prefer to have the least amount of bees possible to work on it, yourself included, seeing as the money would have to be split accordingly.</p><p>You'd have to make a convincing statement to get both Marty and Bill to agree, that'd be the easy part, it's all a matter of time, you could end up spending two years on it.</p><p>When you look at the numbers, two years isn't a lot, but when you think of everything else you could do within the span of two years, it's a lot of time.</p><p>It's a sacrifice worth making, it'd help you better prepare for the future, and more importantly, it would allow you to comfortably settle down and start a family.</p><p>Marty wouldn't have a very important role himself, he wouldn't play a big part in it, though his older brother, Desmond, is of much interest.</p><p>The plan would look simple on paper, thought it would be far from simple once brought into execution, you're ready for the difficulties of it.</p><p>For now, you just need to get some sleep for the night, you plan to have a quick discussion with Marty during work, if all goes well, you'll call Bill afterwards.</p><p>You flip back, as to not be facing the ceiling, you have the temptation of opening your phone and watching videos until you fall asleep but you decide against it.</p><p>You close your eyes, basking in the glory of the silence filling the house, nothing to catch your attention, you can only sleep.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yes, it is neither friday nor sunday, but i just felt like uploading because idk i need to rant about writing, or lack thereof.</p><p>as i've probably mentioned here, idk i forget these like immediately after, i haven't felt like writing in a pretty long while, this doesn't just apply to the clusterfuck that is this "fanfic", this applies to every other project i have going on.</p><p>the main issue i have when trying to write for this, is that, i don't know what people want, or if anyone actually reads this. the only indication i have is some numbers in a statistics page for a website that's been in some form of beta since before i even spoke english.</p><p>one thing you may have noticed, if you actually hate yourself to the point of reading through this fanfic, is that it has significantly less i n t e r c o u r s e than the previous one. i could just say "i don't feel like writing that" but it's not like i wouldn't inconvenience myself for the people of the internet.</p><p>if i were to be honest, i actually have not felt like writing that, the joke kinda died out. beyond that, i haven't really "tilted" the story in ways that'd easily allow me to fit those in, that's something i will actually take responsibility for, as if it matters. i personally prefer focusing on story aspects, but given the chance, i'd probably write more a c t s   o f   i n t e r c o u r s e if i see it fit.</p><p>now yes, i have not felt like writing those, partially because, i don't know what people like, do they want more, do they want less, do they want them to be canon, do they want them to be not, does anyone actually care? am i wasting more of my time by writing this? quite possibly.</p><p>all im saying is, some f e e d b a c k, would be rather convenient, or hell, even some indication that what im writing is actually being read by someone. you see when i made the switch over to fanfic.net and archiveofourown.org (only ao3 now), the amount of views i was getting instantly skyrocketed by over 2000%, by that time i had written around 20k words in the span of i think 2 months, but after seeing just how many views it was getting, i got the motivation to dump another 20k words in less than a month. i felt like, for once, since i wrote the first one, someone out there, was actually reading my work. it got to the point where i literally spent actual real life money on celebrating by buying cake. slowly running </p><p>and granted, these do still get like, 6 views each, which is 12x what i was getting before, it just slowed down a lot. and the views aren't specifically what im after, like ok, i would be highly motivated if i received a considerably large amount of views, but really, what im after is just some feedback, some indication that this is actually being read by someone other than the african guy in the group dm.</p><p>im slowly running out of the surplus i have written, so i'll probably have to write more soon, it's just writing smut has become significantly less appealing than actually spending time with real life friends, i haven't been feeling like staying home all day ever since i had to resume my e d u c a t i o n after the unfortunate end of l o c k d o w n.</p><p>you ever notice how bad Notepad++ looks when you run it through Wine?</p><p>also, i've once again started talking to the guy that made me write underhive in the first place, idk just seemed noteworthy.</p><p>im gonna go walk my dog now.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>And sleep you do, you wake up in the morning, this time you wake up to your alarm, something you have not done in a very long time.</p><p>A quick inspection of your sheets reveals that you were pretty restless during the night, you usually don't move around that much while sleeping.</p><p>Realizing that you don't have that much time to spare, you quickly get up, you proceed to wash up with haste, you're not late but you need some extra time today.</p><p>As for breakfast, you decide to pick out the largest apple in your fridge, you proceed to quickly consume said apple, it tastes good enough.</p><p>You get dressed as fast as you can, before leaving you confirm that you're carrying everything you need, your wallet, phone, and keys, are all present.</p><p>Instead of driving to work, or taking the bus, you've decided to walk to work today, there are several reasons behind this.</p><p>You should go a few days without driving unless necessary every once in a while, exercising your legs couldn't hurt, in fact, walking is more healthy.</p><p>Though that's not the only reason you're walking today, you're hoping you'll bump into Anna today, walking increases the chances of that happening.</p><p>You promptly open the front door and step out, making sure that you locked it behind you, you begin walking to work, you don't have to rush it, you still have time.</p><p>The morning wind feels nice, the walk to work is mostly uneventful, the only thing worth noting is how different it feels to walk to work now.</p><p>What feels even more different is not having to park your car before entering, it's been a while since you've walked to work.</p><p>Quickly checking the time, you notice that you've arrived earlier than you expected, you proceed to enter the building, you make your way to your office.</p><p>You don't see Marty at the desk outside, then again he hasn't stood there ever since the accident with his leg, you proceed to open the door and enter the office.</p><p>Quickly turning your eyes to Marty's chair, you see that he is in fact present, his eyes also turn towards the door, as to check who'd just entered.</p><p>You both exchange greetings, you slowly walk inside the office to your seat, Marty points out that you seem nervous, you hadn't noticed but you wouldn't deny it.</p><p>He asks "Is there a problem?", he continues "You're looking a bit nervous.", you ask "Do I look nervous?", you continue "I hadn't noticed.".</p><p>He answers "You do.", he continues "You know I'm all ears if you need to get something off your chest.", you reply "Yeah, I know, thanks for that.".</p><p>He replies "Don't mention it.", he continues "Job would get boring without it.", you sigh and say "Well, I was gonna ask for your help with something.".</p><p>You continue "Not necessarily your help, but I do need something from you.", he asks "What is it?", you can see that he's interested in what you have to say.</p><p>You say "I don't quite know how to put this.", he replies "It's alright, just tell me what you need.", you say "I was hoping you could get me into contact with Desmond.".</p><p>He asks "Huh?", you answer "Yeah.", he says "Well, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.", he asks "Why do you need to get in contact with him?".</p><p>You answer "If you want the truth, I'm planning something, and I need his help to make it happen.", Marty looks curious, he asks "Why him specifically?".</p><p>You answer "He has something, something not everyone has.", you continue "Or at least that's what I heard from one of your stories.".</p><p>Marty asks "Do you plan to fill me in?", you answer "I do, it's not exactly the type of thing you can keep hidden for very long, or would want to hide.".</p><p>You continue "I'll fill you in on the details, just not yet, it'll happen when the time is right.", you ask "So, what do you say?".</p><p>He contemplates it for a few seconds before saying "Alright, can't see it doing any harm.", you promptly thank Marty for his help, it wasn't much but it was essential.</p><p>Marty says "I'll give him a ring after we're done with today, he's probably busy as of now.", you reply with a simple yet conclusive "Alright.".</p><p>You and Marty begin working, as usual, you deal with issues as they come up, hardly a task with the two of you working on it.</p><p>As easy as it seems when two are working on it, you know how quickly it could overwhelm you if you were working on it alone, being able to distribute the load helps a lot.</p><p>Marty asks "Do you mind giving me some hints as to what it is you're planning?", you answer "Sure, ask and I'll answer everything I can.".</p><p>He asks "What makes you think Desmond would agree to be part of it?", you answer "From what you told me about him, it'd be right up his alley.".</p><p>He replies "Interesting.", he asks "Anyone else in on it?", you answer "Not yet, I plan to discuss it with someone else later today.".</p><p>He asks "How'd you get the idea?", you answer "I heard some stories from you, then heard some stories from one of my friends, gave it a bit of thought.".</p><p>Marty says "Alright then, don't know what else I'd ask about that.", after a moment of silence, he asks "Got anything else going on?".</p><p>You answer "Not much, weekend was pretty uneventful.", he says "You looked excited when you left work before the weekend.", he asks "What happened to that?".</p><p>You answer "Well.", you pause for a moment, you say "I don't really feel comfortable talking about it.", you continue "It's rather personal.".</p><p>Marty says "Alright, sorry, didn't mean to intrude.", you reply "Yeah, it's fine.", you continue "I was gonna have to draw the line on what I tell you eventually.".</p><p>You and Marty get back to working, it'd get very boring if you didn't talk every few minutes, you slowly run out of topics as time goes on.</p><p>Marty's done a lot of things, been to a lot of places, has a lot of stories, but you've been working together for months now, he doesn't have much left.</p><p>Marty rarely ever keeps any details out, whether it be names, locations, time, but what he does keep out is precise information about his prior relationships, or at least one of them.</p><p>Whenever you question him about that one specific relationship, he immediately tries to evade the question, not in the way that he would normally avoid a question.</p><p>What you do know about it is very vague, no names, no visual features, barely any form of location, you can respect his privacy but your curiosity is natural.</p><p>Marty asks "Got plans this weekend?", you answer "I think I do.", he asks "Alone or?", you answer "You already know the answer to that question.".</p><p>He replies "Yeah, I guess I do.", he stays silent for a minute before saying "We haven't done much together ever since, well, Wardo.", you reply "I've noticed that.".</p><p>You say "As much as I'd like to hang out, it hasn't been possible recently.", he asks "Mind if I ask why?", you answer "Me and Anna are working through some things as of now.".</p><p>Marty looks curious, but nonetheless holds back his questions, he says "I'm not gonna dig that hole, if it's personal.", you reply "I'd prefer if you didn't.".</p><p>He asks "When do you think you'll be able to hang out for a couple of hours?", you answer "Probably next week, everything should be cleared up by then.".</p><p>You check the time on your phone, you've done this a few times during this work session, nothing of much note happened the times you did it before.</p><p>Marty says "You seem anxious to leave.", you reply "Probably because I am.", he replies "Unusual.", he asks "Did you get enough sleep last night?".</p><p>You answer "Enough is an understatement.", he says "If you feel like leaving early, I don't mind.", you reply "I can't leave early, even if I wanted to.".</p><p>He replies "No, really, I don't mind.", you reply "It's not about that.", he replies "Alright then, if you say so.", you begin patiently waiting for the day to end.</p><p>There isn't any work left, you can really only wait, your arms rest on your legs as your hands meet in the gap between your knees, you continue to look at the floor.</p><p>You cannot help but feel as if you've forgotten something, something of significant importance, something essential, you've felt this way a great many times before.</p><p>You begin feeling distressed, no matter how many times you endure this, it'll always make you feel this way, you've accepted it as a part of life, accepted that it cannot be removed.</p><p>Marty asks "Something wrong?", you realize he must have noticed the signs of discomfort which now fill your face, you have no reason to hide it.</p><p>You answer "I feel like I'm forgetting something, something important.", he sighs and asks "This again?", you answer "I can't help it.".</p><p>He stops pressing you about it, you've talked about this before, it's a curious matter, certainly nothing common, talking about it again would yield little to no intelligent results.</p><p>He sighs and asks "Do you need any help?",  you answer "No, it's just inconvenient.", he replies "There's more to it than that.", you reply "Possibly.".</p><p>He asks "Do you feel like talking about it again?", you answer "I don't think that would really achieve anything.", he replies "Probably wouldn't.".</p><p>You sigh, you know he's trying to help, not that it would be of much use, he's fully aware it won't be, yet it is difficult not to attempt to help those whom you've formed bonds with.</p><p>You say "I just feel like I've lost sight of something important.", he replies "Doesn't sound like what you said last time.", you reply "No, no it doesn't.".</p><p>He asks "And you don't have any idea what it is you lost sight of?", you answer "I don't, never did.", you continue "Yet somehow, I feel like I'm making progress towards getting it back.".</p><p>He says "Interesting.", he continues by asking "Is that a good thing?", you answer "I hope it is.", you take your attention to the clock on your phone, revealing that it is time to leave.</p><p>You quickly gather yourself, you say "I'm sorry for leaving like this but I should get going.", he replies "Don't worry about it, see you tomorrow.", you promptly exit the office.</p><p>You intentionally walk at a slower pace, you want to increase the odds of you running into Anna, you could go looking for her but that would be rather awkward.</p><p>You start to lose hope with each and every step, it is not that you hadn't expected this, the odds of it happening are not particularly high, it is hard not to get your hopes up however.</p><p>You can feel what you identify as disappointment, as you take the final step outside the building, you look around but don't spot Anna at any location, unfortunate as that is, you begin your walk home.</p><p>Nothing of much note happens, or perhaps you never paid attention, all you know is that, from your perspective, the walk was uneventful.</p><p>Though it seems what follows next would be quite the opposite, you had assumed you would spend the entire day not having much communication with anyone if any, but it would appear that is not the case.</p><p>After entering your house, you quickly check your phone, much to your surprise you find that you've received a message, what is even more surprising is the sender, it is but James.</p><p>To say you had not expected this would be an understatement, though your curiosity is very much piqued, without hesitation, you open the message to read its contents.</p><p>It appears James had sent "I'm sorry, this probably comes off as rude, as I don't really ever talk to you, but I need your help with something.", it appears to have been sent about ten minutes prior to you reading it.</p><p>You quickly reply "It's fine, what do you need?", you set your phone down for a minute as you do a quick wash of your face and hands, you also drink a small cup of water, hygiene and hydration are a perfect mix.</p><p>You once again pick up your phone to see that James had replied, he sent "You'll have to excuse me, it's pretty awkward.", you reply "Don't worry, you can tell me.".</p><p>He almost immediately replies, he sends "I appreciate how patient you are, it's just that I don't want to drag you into it.", your curiosity continues to grow, you've never seen him reply so quickly.</p><p>You send "I don't really have anything better to do right now.", you then send "Tell me what you need, we're friends after all.", while you're not very great friends with James, you have spent a considerable amount of time together in recent months.</p><p>He sends a message asking "How familiar are you with Anna's friends?", you answer "I've talked to a few of them.", he asks "Did you ever meet one with the name Aster?", you answer "Yeah.".</p><p>You send "She's one of Anna's closest friends from what I've heard and seen.", this time it takes James longer to respond, from what you can tell, he seems hesitant, you feel as if you should be worried but there's no reason to be.</p><p>He asks "Alright, can I give a quick explanation of my situation?", you answer "Of course.", James takes a minute or two typing, most likely attempting to not make such a large text look like garbage.</p><p>He sends "A couple of days ago, Anna said she needed my help with something, she told me one of her friends would be there, she never mentioned who.".</p><p>He follows it with "I'd give you more details, but she specifically asked me not to mention what we're doing to you, or to anyone who might tell you.".</p><p>He continues "Anyhow, me and Aster got introduced, all three of us spent that afternoon and evening together, same thing happened the day after.".</p><p>This message in particular takes him a while longer to send, though it is still less than a minute, he sends "The thing is, I'm positive I like Aster, in that way.".</p><p>You find humor in this situation, you've never had someone present to you such an unusual situation, or perhaps it's quite common, you wouldn't know.</p><p>You reply "Nothing wrong with that, what do you need?", he answers "From what we talked about yesterday, Anna once used your phone to call her, I was wondering if you could give me her number.".</p><p>You reply "Is that all?", he answers "Yeah, I'm sorry about all this.", you reply "It's nothing, I just didn't expect something like this from you.".</p><p>Before he replies, you quickly scroll through your contacts to find Aster's number, if you can call it scrolling, the list is well, short, to say the least.</p><p>You promptly copy the number and proceed to paste it in a message, you send it and wait for a response, you assume James is carefully adding the number to his contracts.</p><p>A minute later, he sends "Thank you, I really do mean it, and again, I'm sorry about the trouble.", you reply "It's alright.", you can somehow feel James' excitement through his messages.</p><p>He piques your curiosity once more by sending "Could I ask you for one more thing?", you answer "Sure.", he replies "If this goes well, which it hopefully does.".</p><p>He continues "I feel like I'm going to need someone to talk to about it, and some advice every now and then, I don't think I would be ready to tell any family member about it.".</p><p>In what seems to be an admittance of defeat, not defeat to you, but defeat to embarrassment, he sends "You get where I'm going with this, I'm guessing you would understand.".</p><p>You reply "I do, I too did need someone to talk to and take advice from.", you continue "You can tell me whenever you need someone to talk to about it.".</p><p>James replies "Thank you, again, I do mean it, you've helped me a lot, I didn't want to have to take her number from Anna.", you do feel better after having helped someone whom you'd consider a friend, you enjoy the feeling of appreciation.</p><p>You can't help your curiosity, you send "Speaking of Anna, did something look off about her?", he answers "Now that you mention it, she seemed down for reasons she wouldn't speak of, her eyes also looked a bit red.".</p><p>He continues "When I asked her about it she shrugged it off, she just said she hadn't noticed it.", a moment later, you can almost feel James' protective instincts taking effect.</p><p>He sends "Did something happen?", you answer "No, it's nothing.", he replies "Seriously, if something did happen you can tell me.", you can see him trying to be somewhat friendly.</p><p>Before you reply, he sends "I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure everything's alright, I know I should take your word for it.", he then follows it with "But just tell me if something happened, if it's personal I won't press you further.".</p><p>You reply "It is personal.", James does he as he promised, he doesn't question you any further, he sends "I should get to talking to Aster.", he follows it with "Is there anything you need before I go?".</p><p>You answer "No, and good luck.", he sends "Alright then, I'll talk to you later.", and with that, your conversation with James ends, it was rather interesting, quite so.</p><p>You can only wish the best for James on his endeavour, if anything, it'll make future events more interesting, you've never seen James act or talk like that before.</p><p>You look at the time, you realize that you spent an hour talking to James, more than you could've asked for, though you have little idea what to do with the rest of your day.</p><p>You consider talking to Ethyl, but you still feel a sense of shame, and furthermore disgust when thinking about the time you spent together a few days ago.</p><p>Though you didn't cheat, you feel like you did, and if anyone were to ask, it does not feel good, you can only hope that something can free your mind of that plague of shame.</p><p>You imagine a long, literal, and honest conversation with Ethyl may help, though you choose not to initiate such a conversation at this time.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Non-canonical sex scene 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i finally got around to writing this, i was technically going to do it yesterday at 12am (releasing this at 1am today) but my dad came home drunk so i couldn't write. it's impossible to write before like 10pm due to h e a t.<br/>anyway the one thing i deem noteworthy is that i managed to get the first 1000 words done in under an hour, might be new record not sure.<br/>the other 470 words took almost an hour because they did, also i realized DSpellCheck doesn't function when running Notepad++ through Wine so that's always fun. luckily KATE has a built-in spellcheck.<br/>im gonna try to maybe get like 5 hours of sleep before school tonight.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You take a deep breath as your lips finally part with those of Ethyl's, you very well know you'll need it. You're rightfully nervous about what will soon occur.</p><p>You're always slightly nervous before initiating acts of sexual intercourse, though this time is different, and significantly at that. From a technical standpoint, you're only trying a new position, not that you could care less about what position you use.</p><p>You've never really tried anything similar, though you don't have much time to think about it. You simply have no idea how someone would normally commence intercourse in this position, luckily you're not doing it "Normally". On one hand, it's hard not to be sexually enticed, on the other hand, this seems highly impractical and equally unpleasant. You won't have to wait long to find out if it's either of those things.</p><p>You've become used to seeing Ethyl's bare body, your moral judgement informs you that it may not be a good thing. There is not much you can do about it, you feel like things are out of your control, when in all reality, you could just choose to not participate. You find difficulty in making such a decision, however.</p><p>Ethyl catches you off-guard when she asks "You ready?", you almost stumble as you answer "I guess", "Very enthusiastic" she replies. "How will this work again?" you ask, "Just lie down" she answers while sighing. You don't believe you've ever disappointed anyone as much as you did now, though you would be lying if you said your question was not legitimate.</p><p>You do as instructed, lying down flat on your back, fortunately you have a pillow to rest the back of your head against, you could tolerate lying down like this for a period of time.</p><p>Ethyl turns so her rear-end is facing you, she briefly plays with her vagina as it faces you, had you seen this thirty minutes ago, you would've felt nothing besides disgust. Now however, the sight is quite, appealing. You're too busy to feel disgusted at your own self.</p><p>You quickly think for a moment, you do feel somewhat bad for continually degrading the experience with questions. You quickly decide to try to make up for it as best you can.</p><p>You immediately put your plan into action, you wrap your arms around Ethyl's rear end, proceeding to quickly pull it towards your face. Without a moments notice, you launch your tongue at speeds never before believed to be possible. You begin prodding around the inner walls of her vagina using your tongue. You can tell by the moans, occasionally followed by giggles, she enjoys this.</p><p>Ethyl adjusts her position to be able to insert your increasingly-erect penis into her mouth, if you were to be honest, it feels extremely nice whenever she does this, which is becoming more and more common. No matter how many times you experience this, the pleasure transcends your comprehension.</p><p>You battle the temptation to simply enjoy the pleasure being given to you, though you choose to uphold your end of the bargain. Her vagina is uncomfortably close to your face, you can feel the warmth coming off of it. You feel slightly discomforted by the fact that your face is this close to something you've put your penis inside so many times. Though this certainly is not the first time you've been this close to it, you doubt it'll be the last.</p><p>You begin a mostly random series of movements with your tongue and lips. You use the sounds managing to escape her mouth as indication to whether you're doing well. You can feel the movement of her head slowing doing, the reasons for which appear to be obvious. You don't complain, you've already degraded the experience more than once. You'd rather let her have her fun.</p><p>The deeper your tongue reaches inside her vagina, the stronger the taste of honey becomes. You can't resist the urge to taste more of it. You pull her closer to you once more so that your tongue may reach deeper inside. You can only vaguely taste her honey, you find yourself wishing she'd release it faster. Which is when you realize you're completely in control of when she cums.</p><p>You once again pull her closer to you, this time having your face fully make contact with the exterior of her vagina, she moans loudly as your tongue explores every corner of her vagina.</p><p>You put as much force into it as you can, eagerly waiting for her to cum. She completely lets go of your penis, switching a position similar to sitting. Though you've stopped caring about your penis quite a while ago.</p><p>At long last, after what felt like an eternity of having your face shoved into her rear end, honey begins quickly pouring from the deepest parts of her vagina as she gives off a moan of pleasure. The vast majority of her honey rolls down your tongue, softly caressing your taste-buds as it passes by. You do your best to swallow it, this proves difficult due to the thickness of it. The endlessly sweet taste of her honey makes it worth the endeavour.</p><p>You finally pull away from her, you take several deep breaths, being able to breathe properly feels liberating. Ethyl giggles as she moves her finger along your mouth, engulfing it in her very own honey before putting it in her mouth. "Sweet" she says, after tasting it. "Did I do good?" you ask while breathing quickly. "Very", she replies while also breathing at abnormally quick speeds.</p><p>"How was it?", you ask. "It was excellent" she answers. She leans over to grab a towel and hands it to you. She says "Wipe your face" while smiling. You can only imagine how much of your face is covered by honey. You thoroughly wipe it. She proceeds to lean over towards you, your lips once again meet.</p><p>Once she pulls away, you say "But we're not done yet.", she nods. "How do you wanna do it?" she asks. You don't answer, but instead get up after lying down for a considerable period of time. You begin kissing Ethyl without putting much thought into the matter. She doesn't seem to mind. You pull away and help her into the position you deem optimal at this time. Her rear-end is extended in your direction while she faces downwards.</p><p>You slowly approach her vaginal opening with your penis, she puts her hand in front of it before saying "I think I've had enough of that for today". She grabs your penis and directs it towards her butt. "You don't mind, do you?" she asks. "Not one bit." you answer. You take a moment to appreciate the shape of her butt. It's by no means small. But it's also not abnormally large. It also looks very clean, you quite like it, it's a pleasant sight.</p><p>Not a moment after your penis enters her butt, her butt begins to release thin, transparent, lubricant material, allowing your penis to slide in with ease. A year ago you would've questioned the possible health issues tied to acts such as these, but after researching the topic, it surprisingly has no real health related drawbacks.</p><p>Ethyl moans loudly as the entire length of your penis is inside her butt, despite the lubricant material, it's still very tight, you can feel every part of your penis touching it. You begin sliding your penis in and out of her butt at quick speeds, her moans increase in magnitude as you do this. You strangely feel good for being able to satisfy her, something you haven't felt during any of your other many sexual interactions with Ethyl.</p><p>You don't last very long, no longer than a couple of minutes. You're already exhausted, you believe Ethyl is too. You pull your penis out of her butt just in time for your cum to cover it's exterior. Ethyl takes a deep breath as her butt continues to expand and retract. No longer being able to support herself, her body crashes down on the bed. You quickly crash down next to her.</p><p>After a few minutes of lying down silently in the mostly dark room, you put your hand on her stomach and pull her closer to you. "So?" she asks, "What?" you reply. "Did you like what we did today?" she asks, you answer "Yeah, it was amazing". You ask "Did you enjoy it?", she answers "I did, it was great", you reply "I'm glad".</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>yes, im late, very, i have some excuses.</p><p>as of late, i've been pushing linux to it's theoretical limits, persistent manjaro usbs, pacman on ubuntu, kde software on xfce, almost dual booting persistent operating systems.<br/>not only does this take a lot of time, you destroy quite a few installations, it takes a bit of time to get everything set back up again.</p><p>other than that, i of course have school taking 7 hours off my day, and the stress induced by mostly getting around 4 hours of sleep every day.</p><p>and, all y'all don't know, but ol' jad has a habit of starving, for example, as im writing this, it's my third day without a proper lunch. everything i ate today consists of a cup of noodles directly after school, and like 2 noodle packs in a bowl a few hours ago. that's it, unless you count the chocolate bar i ate earlier.<br/>this has a toll on my ability to do things, i don't have the energy to do a lot of things. like re-enabling my hard drive after i disabled it to make sure the persistent usb installation didn't mess with it.</p><p>and lastly, i've spent a few hours of a few days making satire youtube videos, i had to scrap quite a few. <br/>https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-JxIQ6qYF4ozIhaWU2Dj6Q if you're interested, i use windows notepad running through wine, brings back good memories</p><p>there's a few more things i wanted to talk about but it's 23:53 as im writing this, i would like to sleep tonight.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You feel something click in your head, you had almost fallen into a very unfortunate situation, had you not just remembered that you should contact Bill immediately.</p><p>You quickly open your phone and proceed to tap on Bill's contact, you take a deep breath before typing your message, you only have one shot at this, it could change the course of your life, should you succeed.</p><p>You simply type "Hey, are you busy?" as a starter, you hesitate slightly before sending it, this is a chance you likely will not have in the future, nevertheless, you send it.</p><p>You wait patiently, it is understandable of him not to instantaneously reply to your message, though it is still nerve-wracking, you attempt to remain calm and collected, you do feel your heart beating faster than usual.</p><p>As you notice that he is typing out a response, you begin mentally preparing yourself, you're aware of how powerful words are, you're aware of what they're capable of doing, you know how you can use them.</p><p>Bill answers "Wouldn't say I am.", you reply "I was hoping to talk about what we discussed last time.", he simply replies "Elaborate, if you would.", you reply "I believe I may have found a use for it.".</p><p>He sends "Oh?", he quickly follows it up with "This is rather intriguing, and equally pleasing.", he finishes by asking "Would you fill me in on your idea?", you simply answer "Certainly.".</p><p>You send "In terms of finding something to construct upon the empty chunk of land, I believe an acquaintance of mine will be able to help.", he replies "Again, very intriguing, what is it you would construct if given the opportunity?".</p><p>You answer "I believe an establishment dedicated to the cooking, and furthermore serving of food, would do well.", you follow it up with "The need for such establishments is rarely ever in short supply.".</p><p>Bill replies "Understandable, it is something I had considered, and indeed, there always exists demand for establishments of this nature.", he follows it with "Though, this does not solve our other issue.".</p><p>You reply "I am aware, funding is certainly an important part of any project.", he replies "You wouldn't say.", you appreciate the occasional bit of humor Bill has began tossing ever since you stopped having meetings at the old spot.</p><p>You send "That's where my acquaintance would come in.", he replies "An acquaintance of that type, quite useful.", he asks "Have you informed them of anything?", you answer "Not yet.".</p><p>You send "You must understand why it was easier for me to consult you first.", he replies "I do understand.", he follows it with "I assume we will have a meeting to discuss the terms of our agreement, should they agree.".</p><p>You reply "Seems logical enough.", you're constantly impressed by how differently you can talk when speaking to different bees, you wonder if you're the only one to have a habit such as this one.</p><p>Bill sends "Very well, do inform me of their decision, I eagerly await.", you feel a strong relief, you've successfully convinced Bill, though it is far from over.</p><p>You switch back to your contacts, you quickly locate and tap on Marty's contact, you once again take a deep breath before typing anything, though you do feel a sense of confidence from your recent success.</p><p>You send "Any word from Desmond yet?", Marty quickly answers "Funny, was just about to tell you he's interested in talking to you.", Marty then sends what you assume is Desmond's number.</p><p>He follows it with "Hey, just before you talk to him.", he continues "Just remember, me and him aren't on the best of terms.", you reply "I remember, you told me about it.", he replies "Good.".</p><p>You promptly thank Marty, to wish he responds by wishing you good luck, you copy the number and paste it into your contacts, you preemptively name the contact.</p><p>You drink a glass of water before calling the number, you can feel yourself becoming more tense with each time you hear the ring on your end, finally, the phone is picked up.</p><p>You can hear what you assume is a male bee say "Hello, who am I speaking to?", you try to formally say "Hello, I'm Sans, I assume I'm speaking to the right person.".</p><p>The bee on the other end says "Yes, I was told you would call very soon.", you confirm that this is indeed Desmond, you say "Of course, now, I believe I may have a proposal which would interest you.".</p><p>Desmond says "Many things interest me, I ask that you continue.", you say "I was informed that you are looking to make a few investments.", he replies "Yes, that is true, and very straightforward.".</p><p>You say "You'll have to excuse me, I have no prior experience in discussing such topics.", you can hear a slight chuckle from the other end, it's followed by "Yeah, I've been there.".</p><p>He continues "Keep talking, I'm listening.", you say "A friend of mine has an empty piece of land, we had discussed what to construct upon it, eventually concluding that an establishment dedicated to foods would be ideal.".</p><p>You continue "Going through with the plan relies on being able to secure funding.", Desmond asks "What do you propose?", you answer "We propose, that a share of the earnings be given to you in exchange for funding.".</p><p>He says "I'll have to consider it, give me about a week to make a final decision.", you say "I would propose we have a more, formal, meeting in order to discuss the terms of our agreement.".</p><p>He replies "Quite usual, and largely expected, an agreement cannot be made without the prior existence of such a meeting.", he asks "Shall we discuss the time and location at which it will be held?".</p><p>You answer "Of course, though I must request that it be done over text, for convince.", he replies "Yes, certainly, I'll let you have the pleasure of creating the group conversation.", you reply "Won't take but a minute.".</p><p>You hang up and proceed to quickly create a group chat with Bill and Desmond, the prospect of a group chat does not give off a sense of professionalism, but you create it nevertheless.</p><p>You've noticed that Desmond isn't as professional as you'd expected, which you can understand, being given the chance to communicate with others in a normal manner would seem comforting, you can't imagine that's done very often in Desmond's line of work.</p><p>You mostly imagine it mostly consisting of a professional element, with little to no space for any other form of communication, it does sound appealing to be able to not constantly have to speak in a serious tone.</p><p>You send "I do believe the time has come for us to decide where the proposed meeting will be held.", you're almost certain Bill is capable of understanding that Desmond is interested.".</p><p>Desmond asks "Have you any ideas?", the three of you proceed to spend the next five minutes planning out where the meeting will occur, the planning appears to go smoothly, the final date is exactly a week from this point in time.</p><p>Desmond says "Well, I believe that concludes our dealings as of now, I expect us to discuss the terms next week.", Bill replies "Until then.", and alas, the conversation is concluded.</p><p>All there is to do now, is wait until a week from now, you can only hope that goes as well as this did, this could mean very important things, with you having a seemingly unglamorous role.</p><p>You take a look at the time, realizing that there is still a significant portion of time until the day ends, you again find yourself in a position where you know not what to do with your time.</p><p>You wish you could invest it into something productive but you have difficulty finding anything to do, let alone something productive, you've realized how boring your life used to be.</p><p>In an attempt to pass the time, you open Marty's contact, you send "Alright, everything went well, thank you again.", a minute later he sends "Don't mention it.", he asks "What do you think of Desmond?".</p><p>You answer "He's fine I guess, must've been interesting growing up with him.", Marty replies "Sure was.", he quickly follows it with "I'm sorry to leave like this but I need to go.".</p><p>You reply "It's alright, I'll see you tomorrow.", Marty proceeds to hang up, and you are once again clueless as to what to spend your time doing, such things weren't an issue not too long ago.</p><p>Your options are limited, to the exact meaning of that word, the only real thing to do is browse the internet until you manage to sleep, quite depressive, a last resort at most.</p><p>You could theoretically go out, though the prospect of going out alone lacks any real appeal, not that you would know where to go, you start to realize how sad your life used to be.</p><p>You've thought about finding friends over the internet, though you have little to no idea which community you would be able to gather friends from, it begins to become absurdly clear how much you need to develop hobbies.</p><p>Quickly weighing your options, you deduce the best course of action is to take a shower, it is very upsetting when hygiene becomes a source of entertainment, the standards have dropped, and significantly so.</p><p>You take a minute picking out clothes to wear, not that it would matter, you begin noticing a distinct pattern in most of your clothing, most of it is bland.</p><p>You take out a towel and hang it outside the shower, you remove your clothes and step in, you take a minute to appreciate the situation you're in, though you believe this is better than the alternative.</p><p>You spend the next two minutes adjusting the water temperature, constantly cycling between having boiling hot water, and ice cold water, you wonder why this issue is so common, yet appears to be so easy to fix.</p><p>You begin thoroughly cleaning yourself, head to toes, the feeling of water going down your body is, well, relaxing, to a degree, though the feeling of relaxation is just that, a feeling.</p><p>The only noise in the entire house is that of running water, it does not give off any aura of liveliness, but rather that of loneliness, such things never affected you in the past.</p><p>You spend longer than needed in the shower, not doing much of cleaning, but rather basking in the glory of warm water running down your body, only pausing when you hear something.</p><p>Deeply concerned, you promptly stop the water in order to hear better, you can vaguely make out that what you're hearing is nothing other than your phone's ringtone.</p><p>With this knowledge in hand, you quickly exit the shower and proceed to dry yourself up at speeds never before thought possible, you're aware you'd never be able to finish before the ringing stops.</p><p>You do your best to get dressed at a pace quicker than usual, it takes you but a minute to be completely dressed, you no longer hear the ringtone, you can only hope you can call back in time.</p><p>Finally, you pick up your phone to check who was calling, and much to your surprise, you find that it is Anna that was calling, this both concerns and pleases you.</p><p>You'll take any chance to talk to her, but you can't help but be concerned as to why she called, nevertheless, you unlock your phone and attempt to call her back, you're but a few minutes late.</p><p>You don't end up waiting nearly as long as you had expected you would, she answers the call almost instantly, you're taken aback by this, though you immediately feel better upon hearing Anna enthusiastically say "Hey.".</p><p>For a moment, you have no idea as to how to respond, you're mostly distracted by how comforting it was to hear Anna's voice, even if over a phone.</p><p>You quickly say "Hey.", to which she replies "I got worried when you didn't answer the first call.", you reply "Sorry about that, I was just taking a shower.".</p><p>She says "That's alright.", you think for a second and then ask "How are you doing?", she answers "I'm doing well.", she asks "How about you?".</p><p>You answer "I'm doing much better now that I'm talking to you.", you can hear her laugh for a second, hearing her laugh pleases you on levels you cannot begin to describe.</p><p>She says "You never stop, do you.", you reply "You already know I don't.", you ask "How was your day?", she answers "It was alright.", the tone of Anna's voice suggests that she's in a good mood.</p><p>She asks "How was yours?", you answer "It was fine.", you say "I was hoping I'd see you today.", she stays silent for a moment before saying "I was hoping we'd see each other as well.".</p><p>She says "I didn't see you when I left work so I just went back home.", you reply "I considered trying to find you on your way home but realized that would be awkward.".</p><p>She says "You know we can just plan where to meet.", you reply "Yeah, I know, I just wasn't sure if you'd want to.", she replies "I do want to.".</p><p>You ask "Where should we meet up?", she answers "You can choose.", you reply "I don't really know where we could meet.", she laughs before saying "Yeah, I don't either.".</p><p>You find yourself laughing slightly after she says that, this also causes Anna to laugh as she asks "What?", you calmly answer "Nothing.".</p><p>You give out a sigh of happiness, there's a moment of silence, which you break by saying "Hey, Anna.", to which she responds "Yeah?", you say "It's really nice to finally hear your voice again.".</p><p>She doesn't immediately respond, normally you'd be able to see her expression at a moment such as this, but not this time, though you wish you could.</p><p>Eventually, she says "I know, I've been waiting to hear your voice ever since I got back home.", you ask "Why didn't you call earlier?", she answers "I didn't know if you would be home.".</p><p>Another moment of silence passes, you say "About tomorrow.", Anna excitedly replies "Yes?", you ask "How about we meet at the cafe near your place?", she immediately says "Sure.".</p><p>She asks "Right after work?", you answer "If you don't mind.", she replies "You know I don't mind.", you're both satisfied with this decision, it appears as though Anna also misses you.</p><p>You've noticed how differently Anna talks over the phone, you've only ever had brief conversations on the phone, it's more awkward than having her sit besides you.</p><p>You ask "Well, what do we talk about now?", she answers "Anything you want.", you try to find some topic of conversation, you quickly decide on making small-talk.</p><p>You say "Winter's coming up soon.", she replies "I look forward to sleeping under a thick blanket together.", you can't help but chuckle a bit, it does sound funny when spoken out loud.</p><p>She jokingly says "You know I'm just being honest.", you reply "Yeah, I know, I can't say I don't look forward to that as well.".</p><p>She says "Holidays are also coming up.", she cuts herself off and says "Speaking of which, you'll want to speak to my father tomorrow.", you ask "About?", she answers "He said he has something to tell you in regards of the holidays.".</p><p>You say "You know, I prepared a very special gift for you.", she asks "Isn't it a little early to be preparing gifts?", you answer "Never too early for this one.", she asks "What is it?".</p><p>You say "You'll just have to wait until then.", she replies "I see how it is.", you say "Actually, now that I think about it, we never really did gifts.", she asks "What do you mean?".</p><p>You answer "I don't recall us ever giving each other gifts.", she replies "Hmm, that's true.", you say "I wouldn't even know what to get you.", she replies "I wouldn't either, I also wouldn't know what I'd even want.".</p><p>You say "I know what I'd want.", she asks "You do?", you answer "I'd want you to be right by my side every single day and night.", Anna is once again unsure of how to respond.</p><p>You break the silence by saying "Anna.", she replies "Yeah?", you say "I want to tell you something.", you follow it up with "I love you, Anna.", you finish with "But you already know that.".</p><p>She says "I do know that.", she continues "And you know that I love you too.", you reply "I know.", and once again, neither of you know what to say for a moment.</p><p>You ask "Anna, can I tell you something?", she jokingly says "You only ever thought to ask now?", she continues "You know you don't have to ask.".</p><p>You say "I wish you were here with me.", she replies "I wish so too.", she continues "I really do want to.", she finishes "I just can't get myself to go or to ask you to come.".</p><p>You say "That's alright.", she sighs and says "It's been a few days, all I can think about now is things going back the way they were.", Anna never usually talks like this, you can tell she means it.</p><p>You say "They will, soon enough.", she replies "I know, and I can't wait.", you say "There's a lot of things I want to say, but I feel like I should wait until tomorrow.".</p><p>She says "Yeah, I'm saving some things for tomorrow.", you say "I don't feel like ending the call yet.", she replies "I don't want to either.".</p><p>You say "Hey, what if we meet right after work tomorrow.", you can feel her tone change to a brighter one as she says "I'm listening.".</p><p>You say "I was thinking we meet up as we're leaving work, and we could walk to the cafe together.", she replies "Yeah, I'd say we do that.".</p><p>You ask "Is this a good place to leave off?", she answers "Yeah, I think it is.", you take a moment before saying "We'll see each other tomorrow.", she replies "I hope we do.", you say "We will.".</p><p>Both of you exchange "Goodbye"s, you decide to be the one to hang up, it feels bad but you know it's largely inconsequential.</p><p>You look at the duration of the call to see that you spent a good forty-five minutes talking to Anna, it does very much feel nice to talk to her after the past few days.</p><p>To say you're excited to get to tomorrow would be an understatement, you can only imagine the happiness you'll feel once you get to see her again.</p><p>As of now, your current objective is to find some method of killing time, a task which has proven to be of exceeding difficulty, though you do notice an upside.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes, I'm a daily late, yes, I have an excuse.<br/>Yesterday, was the day of fallout. Such an important day could not be wasted.<br/>But, I do have some pretty neat news. As you don't know, I moderate an almost 7000 member discord server for a mobile pc building game. And yesterday, one guy decided to draw the first s u c c in the first Underhive, and it looks pretty damn good so far.<br/>Beyond that, I had considered pulling the plug on this clusterfuck of English literature last week, but before that, I had considered something else. I considered leaving Underhive 2 where it is, then remastering the entirety of Underhive 1 and 2 in a singular work.</p><p>Still haven't decided.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A notification on your phone from one of the most common video sharing platforms reveals that, one of your preferred content-creators has released a video thrice the length of their usual one.</p><p>You prepare a quick meal to eat while watching, the meal itself is not within proximity of being noteworthy, if it could even be called a meal.</p><p>You slowly consume your food while watching the video, you'd get bored if you didn't have something to do while watching it, eating is a preferable option.</p><p>Soon enough, you've finished your food, the video has but a few minutes left, you simply listen to the video while washing up and doing the usual activities which follow eating.</p><p>You've still got about an hour or two to kill before the day ends, it will not be easy, it will not be entertaining, but it is required.</p><p>You could probably sleep now, but that would only result in you waking up at an extremely early time, it's been a while since you had a surplus of sleep.</p><p>You think to yourself, a new idea pops up in your head, you search around your house until you find a paper and a pen to go along with it.</p><p>You ran out of topics when talking to Anna today, you plan to not have that happen tomorrow, you begin thinking of things to discuss, you write down any good idea you come across.</p><p>In the following twenty minutes or so, you've made a list not large in size, it is in fact rather small, though you cannot bare to spend another minute trying to come up with ideas while staring at a piece of paper.</p><p>Admitting that you've run out of options, you decide to begin working on tasks that you would normally only do every other weekend, these begin with you unfolding the ironing board.</p><p>You take out the iron, you promptly unplug the hole in the back and fill it up with a decent amount of water, you plug the hole and leave the iron standing on its back while you grab your clothes.</p><p>You don't have a lot to go through, you carry the small pile of clothes and set it in an area beside the ironing board, you begin going through each and every piece of clothing, ironing them to perfection.</p><p>A moderate amount of steam comes out of the iron each time you lift it off of a piece of clothing, within time, you finish ironing all of your clothes.</p><p>You neatly stack the clothes atop each other before walking back to the closet to put them in, you turn off the iron and empty the water contained within it.</p><p>You put the iron back in it's original spot before folding up the ironing board and doing much the same thing to it, you proceed to take a look at the time.</p><p>With ironing out of the way, you get to the other activity, that being cleaning the windows, it's a simpler task.</p><p>You grab a piece of cloth and the spray bottle, you proceed to go from room to room, window to window, putting a reasonable amount of effort into cleansing each one.</p><p>When all is said and done, you find yourself without anything else to do, you decide it's time to go to sleep for the night, you return the cloth and the bottle before washing your hands and face.</p><p>Unable to sleep, you take out your phone and begin watching videos until you fall asleep, you imagine it's the background noise that helps, though you cannot confirm this.</p><p>You wake up in the morning, you don't feel particularly good or bad, your sleep was largely, unremarkable, you barely pay attention to what you're doing.</p><p>And soon enough, you're standing in front of the door, preparing to once again walk to work, you could drive there but you find no use in doing so, you're not under any time restraint.</p><p>The walk to work is equally unremarkable, you'd feared you'd be late but you knew you wouldn't be, despite not checking the time, or not remembering having done so.</p><p>You walk in to find that Marty is standing at the small desk outside his office, this had become largely unusual in recent times, you continue walking.</p><p>Marty greets you once you arrive at the desk, you reply appropriately, you ask "What's the occasion?", he asks "Occasion for what?", you say "I haven't seen you standing here in a while.".</p><p>He replies "I just felt like doing it today.", he continues "You're not the first one to notice it.", you ask "Do we head inside?", he answers "I guess we do.".</p><p>You allow Marty to enter the office before you, you follow him inside and shut the door behind you, he asks "So, it went well yesterday?", you answer "I think so.".</p><p>You sit down and begin observing what work there is to do, Marty asks "What's with the hurry?", you answer "I wanna get through today as quickly as possible.".</p><p>He chuckles and says "That's not gonna make the day go by faster.", you reply "Yes, I'm aware.", Marty seems to accept the fact that he can't understand your actions, you can't either.</p><p>This workday is less than eventful, as a matter of fact, it's been a while since you've had a workday that stands out, making it grow more dull with each day.</p><p>Hour after hour goes by as you work while talking to Marty, you've practically run out of conversational topics, it is to be expected seeing as you spend several hours doing this everyday.</p><p>After what feels like days of working, there is but a mere five minutes left before the workday ends, you get up from your seat and begin slowly walking in circles around the room, there isn't a lot of space to do this.</p><p>Marty says "Really, you can leave early if you want to, it's just five minutes.", you reply "That's not the problem.", he asks "Then what is?", you answer "Nothing, I'm anxious.".</p><p>You get back in your seat and take several deep breaths, Marty asks "Are you sure you're just anxious?", you answer "Anxious and probably excited.", he asks "Should I ask?", you answer "Probably not.".</p><p>He says "Well, whatever it is, I'm confident you can pull it off.", you reply "Thanks, that helps.", you're exercising normal decency, it doesn't actually help, though you can't say that.</p><p>In a mostly random turn of events, Marty asks "How long do you plan to work here?", you answer "I don't know.", you ask "Why?", he answers "We can't work here forever.".</p><p>You reply "I guess.", he says "It's just something that's been on my mind for the past while.", you look at the time in your phone to notice that it's time to leave, and sure enough, you hear footsteps outside.</p><p>You say "I'm sorry to leave like this again, but I need to be somewhere.", he replies "Alright, I'll see you here tomorrow.", you reply "Sure will.".</p><p>You exit the office and begin slowly walking outside, you continue walking until you're standing a few meters outside the building, you stand to the side as to not be in anyone's path.</p><p>You wait patiently for a minute inspecting each bee walking, none of which appear to be Anna, you actually have no confirmation that she made it to work today.</p><p>You begin to slowly lose hope while equally becoming more and more concerned, that is until you feel a gentle tap on your shoulder.</p><p>You turn around to see Anna standing behind you, you don't give yourself any time to make out her facial expressions, instead opting to instantly hug her.</p><p>She doesn't resist but rather hugs you back, after a few seconds, she says "Someone's gonna see us." while laughing slightly, you ask "Do we care?", she answers "No, we don't.".</p><p>You both back away from each other, and for the first time in what feels like at eternity, you see Anna smiling, a sight that used to be very common not too long ago.</p><p>Both of you look at each other for a moment, unsure of what to tell each other, eventually Anna asks "Should we get going?", you hold her hand and answer "Yes, we should.".</p><p>You say "I was getting worried.", she replies "You'd just stand there all day if I didn't show up.", you reply "I probably would.", you finally let go of her hand and the two of you begin walking.</p><p>You take another look at Anna and notice that something is different, more precisely her hair, rather than having it be smooth and straight, it looks thicker and slightly spread out, while still retaining it's reflective properties.</p><p>You decide to inform her of your observations immediately, you say "You did something with your hair.", sounding pleased, she asks "You noticed already?", you answer "It stands out.".</p><p>She asks "You like it?", you answer "Of course I like it.", you continue "You look great.", she giggles for a bit before thanking you.</p><p>You both walk in silence for about a minute, again, unsure of what to say, you do your best to come up with something that sounds nice, it's doable but difficult.</p><p>You say "It's been a while since I've seen you smile like that, it's refreshing.", realizing that you've put her in a difficult spot, you quickly come up with something else.</p><p>You take a deep breath and say "I've missed you, a lot.", she replies "And I've missed you too.", she continues "It's nice to finally be together again.".</p><p>You say "I've been waiting for this ever since we finished talking yesterday.", she replies "I have as well.", you reply "You sounded very excited.", she replies "That's because I was.".</p><p>She asks "How was your day?", you answer "Good enough, much better now that you're here.", you notice that Anna still blushes occasionally when you talk like that.</p><p>Anna stays silent for a moment before saying "I'm glad we decided to meet up today.", before you have time to respond, she points out that you've almost arrived.</p><p>You ask "What do you want to get?", she answers "I don't know, anything would do.", she continues "We're not really here for the coffee.".</p><p>You say "I know you always like a latte.", you continue by asking "How about we both get one?", she answers "Sure.", while the conversation isn't the most engaging, it's certainly nice.</p><p>She asks "We sit outside like usual?", you answer "Yeah, the inside's a bit cramped.", you continue walking until you've arrived at the area outside the cafe which hosts almost twenty tables.</p><p>The tables and chairs are nothing of quality, a simple plastic design, painted white to fit the general aesthetic, there's no such need for them to be of any higher quality.</p><p>Anna finds an empty table with two chairs while you go inside to get the coffee, the moment you step up to the register, the familiar cashier greets you.</p><p>He says "Been a while since I've seen you here.", he proceeds to ask "What can I get you?", you politely answer "Just two lattes, thank you.", he proceeds to tap a few keys on his side of the register and the total cost appears.</p><p>It is an easily negligible amount of money, though you do give the cashier a moderate "tip", on account of knowing each other, he informs the brewer of your order and turns back to you.</p><p>He says "You don't have to do this every time.", you reply "It's just manners, it'd be rude not to.", he chuckles and says "You already know I wouldn't mind if you didn't.", he says "Still, thanks.".</p><p>You never knew each other's names or bothered to ask, there's no need to, you know a bit about him though, he's not a year older than seventeen, still in school, working here as to save up for something or other, you leave him "tips" to help him get there.</p><p>There isn't any line for the register so you simply step to the side and begin making small talk, you ask "How's school?", he answers "It's good enough, physics is still a pain.".</p><p>You say "I heard somewhere that exams are going to start soon.", he confidently says "And I am not the least bit prepared.", you reply "Far be it for me to tell you how to go through school, but you should probably prepare.".</p><p>He laughs a bit and says "Yeah, I'm joking, I've been doing my best to prepare.", he says "Y'know it's nice to have actual conversation here every once in a while.".</p><p>He continues "Most of the time it's either someone who looks completely dead inside coming in to fuel their caffeine reliance, or someone who shouts at the entire staff for every little mistake.".</p><p>You say "Sounds difficult to deal with.", he replies "You get used to it, still completely tanks your mood though.", he continues "Hell, it gets to the point where you know exactly what they'll say the moment they walk in.".</p><p>You ask "Do you get paid enough to deal with them?", he answers "There is no amount of money you could pay someone that would be enough to deal with them.".</p><p>You ask "Is there many customers you talk to like this?", he answers "Only you, everyone else just waits until they get their coffee then leaves.", he continues "Hell, you're the only person I've talked to like this ever since my older brother moved out.".</p><p>He finishes "You even talk like he did.", you say "I mean, you wouldn't be the worst choice in terms of siblings.", he chuckles and says "Yeah, sure.", he's surprisingly friendly, you don't find much difficulty talking to him which is unusual.</p><p>Something catches his attention, he takes a few steps to the side and returns with two disposable cups, he says "Here you go." as he hands them to you, you thank him again.</p><p>You say "Alright, I have to go, someone's waiting for me.", he says "Alright, until next time.", you take the two cups back to the table Anna is sitting on.</p><p>You place one of the cups in front of her, she instantly thanks you, you proceed to take the seat on the opposite side of the table.</p><p>You say "There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about.", she asks "What is it?", you take a deep breath and begin talking.</p><p>You say "I'm planning a project that should make a drastic improvement in my financial situation, which should be done in a few months.".</p><p>You continue "That's not what's important, though it is related, the important thing is something that I've been wanting to ask for a while.".</p><p>You say "If the project I mentioned were to work out.", you take another deep breath and ask "Would you move in with me sometime after new year's?".</p><p>She stays silent for a moment, turning her eyes down to look at the table, it doesn't seem as if she's considering her answer, but rather pondering how to convey it.</p><p>Eventually, she asks "Why?", you wait for a moment before simply answering "Because I want you to.", seeming confused by the simplicity of the reasoning behind your answer, she remains silent.</p><p>You say "I feel like it's the appropriate time.", you continue "I was wondering if you wanted to as well.", she replies "I've thought about it from time to time.", she continues "And I do want to, I just don't know when.".</p><p>You say "I'd imagine we'd be used to it.", she replies "Yeah, we would.", she continues "We almost spend everyday at each other's houses already.", you nod in agreement.</p><p>You say "It wouldn't be that difficult, we work at the same place.", she replies "Yeah, convenience isn't really the problem.", you say "Tell me what it is, and I'll do everything I can to fix it.".</p><p>She says "I don't know, I just need more time to think it over.", you reply "That's alright, we have all the time in the world.", she seems to be thinking about something.</p><p>She says "Look, I know you're trying to make up for the last few days.", she pauses as if she'd forgotten what she wanted to say.</p><p>You reply "Yeah, I am trying to make up for them, I just don't know how.", she asks "Was that question an attempt at making up for them?", you answer "It wasn't.".</p><p>You say "I've been thinking about it for a while, and I didn't know when to ask.", you can easily tell this isn't going well, the tones of your voices are neither upset nor satisfied, but rather apologetic, on both ends.</p><p>You sigh and say "I was genuinely wondering if you would want to move in together sometime in the future.", Anna once again looks down at the table before looking back at you.</p><p>She says "Honestly, I would", she continues "I know I would.", both of you remain silent for a moment, again, unsure of what to say, or how to improve the current situation.</p><p>Anna sighs and says "Look, I've realized this hasn't been working out for the past few days.", she continues "I just don't want us to lose so much over something stupid.".</p><p>You slowly extend your arm to the other side of the table, you proceed to hold her hand before talking, you say "We won't be losing anything, I'll make sure of it.".</p><p>You continue "I'm sorry about the last few days, I'm trying to make it better but I don't know how.", before you can continue, she cuts you off, she says "I know you're trying, and I want you to know I appreciate it, even if I'm not showing it right now.".</p><p>She continues "We're just having a bad few days, but I know, as long as we're together, we'll get through it.", she puts her hand over yours as to enclose your hand in both of hers.</p><p>You say "You're right, we'll get through it.", you both nod to each other in reassurance, Anna's speech has improved the situation, better than anything you would have said.</p><p>You say "Listen, how about this.", you continue by asking "How about, tomorrow, I take you out to some place nice, and we can talk it over?".</p><p>She answers "Yeah, I'd like that.", she asks "When do we work out the details?", you answer by asking "How about I text you later today?", she answers "Sure.".</p><p>You slowly retract your hand, Anna picks up on it and lets go of it, you ask "Should we finish up and get going?", she answers "I guess, there isn't much more to talk about.".</p><p>You ask "What are you going to do later today?", she answers "I've been working on something.", you ask "All by yourself?", she answers "Not quite.", she continues "I have James helping me with it.".</p><p>She says "Oh, there's also Aster helping me, I think you've met her once.", you reply "I've seen you with her a few times.", she pauses for a minute before saying "I've noticed something while working with James and Aster.".</p><p>You ask "What is it?", she answers "I've noticed they keep giving each other weird looks.", you ask "Weird looks?", she answers "Yeah, I don't really know how to describe it.".</p><p>You reply "That's interesting.", she asks "Is it?", you answer "It is.", you ask "Did they know each other before that?", she answers "I don't think they did.".</p><p>You continue to pretend as if you have no clue what's going on, you believe James would've told Anna if he had wanted to, you know there must be a reason he didn't.".</p><p>Anna asks "What about you, what are you doing later today?", you answer "Honestly, nothing.", she asks "You're not doing anything?", you answer "I really don't know what to do all day.".</p><p>She says "That seems problematic.", you reply "It is.", you continue "I'll think of something.", before Anna has time to say something, you both hear someone saying "Well, hello there.".</p><p>You both turn towards the source of the noise, you immediately see someone approaching your table, further analysis reveals that it's none other than the person you talked about not two minutes ago.</p><p>Anna and Aster exchange a greeting that would seem strange had they not been friends, you give a quick greeting consisting of no more than a single word.</p><p>Aster says "I see you two are still together.", Anna asks "Why would we not be?", Aster jokingly answers "I didn't think either of you could hold a relationship for more than a few months.".</p><p>Anna says "Yeah, sure.", Aster excuses herself by saying "Alright, I'll get going now.", Anna asks "Why the rush?", Aster answers "I just saw you while I was walking and figured I'd say hello.".</p><p>Aster once again excuses herself by saying "I'll see you around then.", Anna nods as Aster turns back towards the sidewalk, Aster begins walking away.".</p><p>You say "We should probably get going as well.", Anna replies "Yeah, let's get going.", you think for a few seconds as both of you get up, you quickly make a decision.</p><p>You ask "Want me to walk with you?", Anna excitedly replies "Sure.", as you begin to leave, you notice the cashier getting off his shift, you both briefly wave to each other as you walk in opposite directions.</p><p>Anna says "It's been a while since we walked somewhere together.", you ask "Has it?", you continue "Time passes pretty quickly when we're together.", she replies "Yes, yes it does.".</p><p>You ask "Are you busy this weekend?", she answers "No, not really.", you say "You may want to talk to Ethyl about something, she's been bugging me about it for a few days.".</p><p>Anna laughs slightly before asking "She told you about it, didn't she?", you ask "About what?", Anna once again laughs before answering "Come on, you know what I'm talking about.".</p><p>You say "Alright, fine.", you continue "Yeah, she told me about it.", you finish "The plan seems a bit, unorthodox, unethical even.", Anna replies "I've realized that.".</p><p>You ask "Are you actually going to go through with it?", she asks "Why not?", you ask "What do you mean why not?" she answers "It's not that bad of an idea.".</p><p>You say "It's pretty weird.", she replies "I've also realized that.", she asks "Do you feel like not going through with it?", you answer "I've been considering backing out of it ever since she told me about it.".</p><p>Anna says "It's fine if you don't want to, we can just cancel it.", you reply "At this point, I don't know whether I want to or not.", you continue "It feels like it'd be cheating.".</p><p>Anna says "It does, to some degree.", she continues "Even if we're both taking part in it.", you ask "Doesn't it feel weird on your end?", she answers "Trust me, it feels very weird.".</p><p>She says "It becomes slightly less weird when you consider the gender, but only slightly.", you ask "What about the gender?", she answers "Me and her being the same gender makes it largely harmless.".</p><p>You ask "Does it?", she answers "Feels like it does.", you reply "I guess.", you say "It feels like the kind of thing you'll immediately regret after doing.", Anna replies "Probably is.".</p><p>You ask "Why do you want to do it?", she answers "I wanted a way to try something new like usual.", she continues "Not that it was my idea.", you say "I wonder where she got that idea from.".</p><p>You quickly follow it up by jokingly saying "Maybe she got jealous when she saw us together.", Anna replies "Maybe she did.", she continues "I wouldn't blame her.", she asks "Should we ask her?", you reply by asking "Would we even want to know?".</p><p>She answers "No, I don't think we would.", you ask "Do we go through with it?", she answers "If Ethyl wants me to go through it, she's gonna have to put up another very convincing argument.".</p><p>Anna says "But seriously, if you don't want us to, we won't.", you ask "Do you like the idea?", she answers "I like changing things up every once in a while.", she continues "The idea itself, well, maybe.".</p><p>You say "I guess the only problem I have with it is that, it feels like I'd be cheating.", Anna says "I don't want to sound like I'm defending the idea.", she continues "Everything I'm saying is what I actually think.".</p><p>She says "About that, you know we'd both be partaking in it.", you reply "I know, I'm just afraid it'd annoy you.", she says "To be honest, it would probably annoy me if I saw you giving attention to someone else, beyond the boundaries of friendship.".</p><p>You say "Honestly, it'd annoy me as well.", she asks "What would?", you answer "Giving my attention to someone else.", Anna seems to have understood that you actually meant that.</p><p>The conversation is definitely, unique, not one you would have any day, though it is equally insightful.</p><p>You say "I guess if you don't have a problem with it, I don't really have one either.", she replies "I don't, as long as you don't.".</p><p>You jokingly ask "Can we just leave her out of the equation?", Anna answers "That'd be even weirder, I don't want her watching us.", you ask "Can we just not have her be there at all?", she answers "Sure.".</p><p>You ask "How would it even work with three, well, participants?", she answers "Just do whatever feels natural.", you reply "I don't think having three participants is entirely natural.".</p><p>You ask "How about we just change the subject for now?", you continue "We can discuss that bit with her.", Anna says "That's probably for the best.".</p><p>Anna says "I still find it funny how shy you get when someone sees us together.", you ask "Don't you get shy?", she answers "I do, just not as much as you.", she continues "I've gotten used to it.".</p><p>You almost pass by Anna's house while walking, being too invested in the conversation to give the slightest bit of attention to your surroundings.</p><p>You slowly walk with Anna to the front door, she unlocks the door and steps inside, she turns back to you, she looks at you expectantly, being unable to say goodbye herself.</p><p>You sigh and say "Listen, I know today didn't turn out as well as we'd planned.", you continue "But, it's been really nice to finally see you again.", she replies "Yeah, it has, I've been waiting for it.".</p><p>Unsure of what to say next, you simply move in to get a hug from Anna, she doesn't resist but it would seem she had not expected it.</p><p>You ask "I'll see you tomorrow?", she answers "Absolutely.", you both let go of each other and back away slightly, you give each other one last nod of agreement.</p><p>Anna closes the door as you begin to walk back home, the realization of how long it will take hits you, but seeing Anna was more than worth the walk.</p>
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